Id Finds a Friend?
by Stangmanism
Summary: This is the story of a group of broken people living in the Dresden universe and how they live through there crazy, funny, and often violent adventures. features mainly original characters, based off of the rpg, as they collide with Fae, necromancers, and the White Court. Rated M for harsh language and violence. Please Read & Review
1. Chapter 1

Hey everyone, oh who am I kidding. Hello single reader. This is the story of an original character in the Dresden-verse. Most of the characters are going to be original characters for the first few chapters. I plan to have the story slowly connect to the Dresden-verse proper as the story goes on. Here is the first chapter. I hope you like it.

_Id Finds a Friend?_

There is an older internet meme, which shows a picture of someone looking at something with horror contorting there face, and the text, "That which has been seen, can't be unseen". That is what I have been told anyways. I have never been on the internet. When I get within about thirty feet of advanced technology it tends to break down, and catch fire. Light bulbs, computers, cellphones, modern cars, even a guy's pacemaker have all come across my field of screw-you-twenty-first –century, and all lost, but I digress.

Getting back to unseeing things. For most people it is almost impossible to truly forget something and get the image out of their head. Over time by somehow not focusing on the offending image, an interesting task in itself, the image will fade to the back of your mind. The rub is that it isn't gone. It just waits for something, anything, to remind you of it. Then, it come roaring to the front of your mind and you have to start all over again.

Those who use magic like I do, have a power that is usually just called the sight. It is a way of expanding you consciousness to the point where you see everything as it truly is. This may sound cool at first, but you see everything as it truly is. You see the monster that lurks in the normal visage of a man, you see the saintly aura of holy places. You even see the wounds and pains of all you look at. The other part is that these things are not just visual. The sight affects every sense you have.

The other problem is that what is seen by the sight, is truly with you forever. The sensations never fade. The feelings never dull. The image is burned into you. It is like a knife that is twisting in you, and you can never pull it out.

When I was younger I took a drug called "Three-Eye". The drug forces the sight open, and keeps it open until you come down. While on it I saw horrors that are beyond descriptions. In order for my being to survive I must have cut my mind apart, and thrown away every part incapable of handling the sensation. I lost the first twelve years of my life.

I often wonder what happened during those twelve years. I have concluded that there were some troubles, I was doing drugs after all. I tend not to brood on these things. It is just a black void, and focusing on it makes my head hurt.

So I just move forward.

I walked down the streets of a random city in the USA. I like walking the mortal world. I spend more than half my time in the Nevernever. The Nevernever is a sort of plan that touches the normal world. The normal world shapes the Nevernever, and similar places are held together in the Nevernever, but can be extremely far apart in the real world.

I once left New York City for the Nevernever, walked ten feet and exited the Nevernever into Hong Kong. So my geography is shaky at best. I know how to get to all sorts of places in the real world, but I almost never travel a way that anyone could really follow. Again I digress.

I walked down a street that was covered in a thin layer of frost. Judging by the slope of the road, I was in a mountainous part of the country. I was wearing my troll skin duster, and had it buttoned tight. The place was chilly, not cold.

As I walked down the sidewalk I watched as peoples phones, and lights flickered and died. I made it a point to walk closer to a loud man yelling at a Bluetooth. Have to do some community service sometimes.

I walked past an alley. I heard a door slam open, someone let out a hiss of pain, and then the clatter of trashcans being body slammed.

I turned to my right. My right eye is blind. The eye itself is milky white, and the flesh around it is covered in old burn scars. The flesh is red and warped by keloids. I don't give a rat's ass about how I look to others, but the lack of vision on my right side is a pain in the ass.

I turned expecting a fight maybe. I get jumped more than you would ever guess, but I still hold out for that one day that I get surprised with cake. I saw a girl about my age pulling herself to her feet. She was thin, and about average height. Her long brown hair was held away from her face by a grey bandana. She wore a loose grey t-shirt, worn jeans, beat-up black sneakers, and a black waist apron.

She pulled herself to her feet and dusted herself off. She looked up at me. the left side of her face was purple and swollen. The revealed skin on her arms was covered in smaller bruises. "What are you looking at?" the girl in grey asked.

"A girl in grey, pulling herself out of a pile of trashcans," I said. I pulled a cigar out of my pocket, bit the tip off, and lit up. "Ignitus," I muttered quietly. The tip of the thumb of my metal clad right hand burst into a small blue flame similar to that of a butane lighter. This was a small spell; it required almost nothing other than a moment of focus.

A large man in a white shirt, brown pants, and a greasy apron appeared in the door his face a blocky, and red. His square face was set with an angry scowl. "Emma, get your ass back in here. Lunch hour is going to start in five minutes."

"Screw you Kenny," the girl in grey said. "I've been here since five. I'm taking my break. If you have a problem, talk to Chrissie. She can handle it for the fifteen minutes of my break."

The girl in grey pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her pocket and lit it off of my still burning finger. I extinguished it.

The large man called Kenny looked at me, and then back to the girl in grey. "Who is this burnt bastard?" he asked pointing his thumb at me.

"Random guy with a lighter," the she said.

"You better be back in here in ten minutes," the large man said darkly. He shot us both and angry look, and went back inside slamming the door behind him.

"He throw you into those cans?" I asked. There must have been a hint of apathy in my voice.

"Don't sound concerned," she said sarcastically. "No, I fell down the stairs yesterday. Check this out. She raised the left leg of her jeans above her knee. The knee was purple and swollen just like her face. I bumped it on the door frame, and it gave out on me. So what happened to the side of your face?"

"I made a deal with the wrong sort of people," I said. I pulled my hip flask out of my pocket and took a swig. I like cinnamon schnapps mixed with a bit a tabasco. I offered the flask to her.

She took a swig. "Yuck," she said handing it back. "Thanks, but that stuff is bad."

"Meh," I said, and took another swig.

"where did you get that coat?" she asked. It looks like good leather.

"Troll skin," I said. "I killed one, and one of my little brothers made all this for me." my boots, pants, and my cap were also made of troll skin. It looks like grey leather, but will stop bullets, and blades quiet well.

"Did you say troll skin?" the girl in grey asked. She chuckled a little. She paused for a moment. "Sorry, my name is Emma Grant." She offered me her hand. "What's yours?"

I live with the fae. They never give out names easily, and I learned to not give mine. Good thing I don't know my true name. "Id Grendal," I said as I took her hand. I felt a jolting spark of energy. She had a power of some kind. Strong power too.

My eyes narrowed, and so did hers. Her hand tightened on mine, and then quickly let go. She took a step away from me.

"Where did you get those bruises again?" I asked. I still didn't care about her injuries, but the source of them, could be a potential threat/enemy. It is best to keep that list updated, and detailed.

"I fell down some stairs," the girl in grey said. She was either telling the truth, or a good liar. I've never been good at reading people.

"Who did you make a deal with," she asked. Her eyes narrowed.

"Titania, Mab, Prometheus, some guy named McCoy," I said. For those of you at home, that is a rather large number of deals, but the people I made them with is the impressive point.

The girl in grey's eyes went wide. She took a step back. "I told the White Council to leave me alone."

The White Council is the ruling body for wizards, and any mortal that can use magic. They tend to bully those that are of lesser power to follow there laws. I had been told on several occasions, that while I can't be part of it, I still have to follow their laws. Eldest brother told me to play along for now.

"I don't work for them, in an official capacity," I said. "truth be told I don't like the White Council much." I don't much like the work they give me either.

"Do you work for Kemmler?" she asked.

Kemmler was a necromancer that declared war on the White Council. He was killed most recently during WWII. I doubted he was dead. Killing a necromancer is a lot like weeding a garden; you have to keep doing it every so often. I personally had nothing against Kemmler. He hadn't done anything to me.

"I didn't think he was dead," I said. "What is after you for?"

The air changed from chilly to cold. I felt the wind increase and bite into my exposed skin. I smelled a faint sickly sweet scent of decay. I heard the grinding, crunching sound of bone rubbing on bone.

I felt my adrenal glands spring into motion. My heart rate increased, and my body felt empowered. I was ready for the fight. I was prepared. I could do this.

That was when the sight opened.

Ever since I took three-eye, my sight has been completely out of my control. This has led to some of the worst experiences of my life. It has also shaped me into the burnt bastard I am today. I closed my eyes not want to see. This did absolutely nothing. I took a deep breath and turned to face the new arrival.

It was a bone centipede. A bone centipede is one of the more obscure and horrific creatures a necromancer can make. What happens is no less than five people are taken and ritually slain in a way that causes them to suffer as the flesh is slowly rent from their bones. Then, their bones are arranged to form a grotesque, serpent-like structure. Finally they are brought back to a tormented and subservient life using magic.

What, you want me to tell you how? Not happening. Google it.

I looked at what it truly was. To the naked eye it was a rattling, creaking, and grinding mess of horribly arranged bones with glowing blue eyes, but to me it was infinitely worse. I saw them. The people it was made of. They were bound to the creature, like heathens to the rack in the dark ages. Their bodies were pulled to and beyond the breaking point. Their real bones, cut, and ground against their spiritual bodies. I heard their screams. They never ran out of breath, nor did their suffering diminish.

The sight shook me. I felt my body moisten from a chilling sweat, and my legs lost a little of their strength. The truly twisted part of a bone centipede is the only way to destroy it, and set the poor souls bound to it free also hurt them. They felt the pain for the creature. The damage done to it was inflicted upon them as well.

That was when I heard it.

Da-da-da-dum, da-da-da-dum, da-da-da-dum. The pounding of a drum. Perfectly in time never missing a beat. This was an important part of necromancy. The beat simulates the beating of a heart, and is used as a focus to keep the undead a necromancer raises under their control. It the beat stops the undead goes mad, and attacks everything it can, until it runs out of power or is destroyed.

The beast stopped in front of me. It had that stillness that only the undead are capable. I turned toward the sound of the beat. A man stood on the roof of the diner. He wore a black cloak that hid his face to the mortal eye. A drum was tied to his left hip, and he tapped it gently in a practiced and almost compulsive way.

What I saw was a twisted rat of man. A creature that lived off the scraps and greatness of another and loathed it. His eyes were blinded to his own vanity and how his snatching at power would lead to his inevitable demise. I also saw his true name. what I lost in control I gained in capacity with respect to my sight. Whatever I look at with I see the true name of.

This is not a tremendous deal for normal people. For supernatural creatures and wizard though, it is the equivalent to own a chunk of them. I have never found this to be that useful, but then again most of the names I know are of beings a thousand times greater than me. Yet again, I digress.

"Who are you supposed to be?" I asked the rat of a necromancer.

"I am a master of death," he said still drumming. "I am a wielder of the forces that all men fear. I am the great learner of mysteries never meant to be known. I am a god made flesh."

"That's pretty a pretty big speech for a guy named Kendall," I said.

He almost missed a beat. "How do you know my name, worm?" he demanded.

"I am he who smokes Cubans. I am the bearer of the scars of knowledge. I am the one true burnt bastard," I said. "I am Id Grendal."

Again he almost missed a beat. "Are you mocking me?"

"No," I said in a passable attempt at an earnest response. "I'm just working on my witty banter. Now, in your opinion am I being charming, snarky or a magnificent bastard?"

"Enough," he snarled. "You are obviously mad. Leave now and I might forget about you. My job is to get the girl anyway."

I turned to look at the girl in grey. I felt something in my all too fragile equilibrium break. My heart hammered. My head pounded, and even my absolute sight blurred for just a moment. I try to not feel. I try not to be human. Not that I strive to be a monster. I just found that holding still, and being quiet makes it hurt just a little less, and by not feeling anything the pain almost goes away…almost.

I felt the tears rolling down my left cheek, the right one never really works anymore.

Why?

I turned to the Rat of a necromancer. I felt the burn of an emotion that was at least easy to bear, and wield. Anger, no, Rage forced my sight shut, and returned my vision to normal.

I pulled all of my power to me. This fight was going to end with something turning to ash.

"Id!" a voice that was almost ecstatic shouted. "There you are!" someone grabbed me from that ever so attentive right side. I felt the warmth. I smelt the sweet aroma of lavender and coconut. I felt the supple form hold me tighter. "Today is Tuesday. You know what that means, right?" I felt teeth playfully nibble my ear.

I felt my power diminish, and something that was almost worthless in a fight begin to rise. I felt the corners of my mouth rise in spite of the situation. "Lita you have the worst timing of anyone I have ever met." I said.

"Why is that?" she breathed into my ear.

"Stop ignoring me!" the necromancer named Kendall shouted.

Lita let go of me. She circled around behind me and appeared on my left side. She was average height, and beautiful. He black hair fell in elegant wavy locks that she never seemed to worry about. Her blue eyes sparkled in a gentle, yet mischievous way that was only aided by her radiant and playful smile. She was best described as lithe, and graceful. I have never seen her stumble.

Her wardrobe changes constantly, and varies from modest to a fault, to high-octane fetish fuel, and everywhere in between. Today she wore tight jeans that still allowed movement, and an even tighter t-shirt that said "The word of the day is legs. Spread the word."

"Is this guy for real?" Lita asked loud enough for everyone to hear.

"I know you should hear this guy," I said. "Hey Kendall, could you give us the god made flesh speech again?"

He almost missed the beat yet again. His pounding on the drum had grown much louder. He was almost hammering the drum anymore.

He muttered something that sounded German, and a jet of fire shot at us. I grabbed Lita and used my body as a shield. The flames hit me. They were nearly 1773 Kelvin. The flames danced around me like a stream of water around an immovable rock. I watch the flames lick my flesh. I felt the heat, and I laughed. My back began to blister and crack. The flames went away.

I turned to the necromancer and gave him a toothy grin.

"How are you alive?" he shouted. His rhythm almost faltered. The bone centipede rattled slightly.

"I'm immortal," I said. I pulled another cigar out of my pocket. "You got a light?"

He muttered something in German again. Lightning flew at me. I stepped to the side just in time. The bolt hit the wall behind me, and sent shards of broken rock flying everywhere.

"Lokionus," I roared back. A spear of fire shot at the necromancer. He dodged to the right, and flames just missed the drum. He didn't break rhythm. He also fell into my trap. The jet of fire was made from all the energy I could take from two cubic meters of air. That small volume was now about 7 Kelvin. And he was standing in it.

The flesh on his hands cracked and flaked off in large chunks. I can't be sure, but I would guess he had similar results with the rest of him. The amazing part was that the drum didn't crumble nor did his hands stop the beat, even as he bled.

The bone centipede charged me.

"Hey Necrophile!" Lita shouted. "Look at this."

I turned in time to see her lift up her shirt. It was a sight I had seen before, but one I have never complained about seeing. The drum stopped. I may not like this guy, but at least his priorities were in the right place. The bone centipede veered from me and headed towards the rat of a necromancer. He jumped from the roof and landed next to me.

The Bone centipede turned towards us. It rattled. We all froze.

"Why isn't it charging?" the girl in grey asked quietly. "Is its vision based on movement?"

"No," the necromancer and I said together.

"What is it doing?" she asked.

"Waiting for one of us to separate from the group," the necromancer said.

"On the count of three, we all run to the left," I said. "Ready?"

"Wait," the necromancer said. "Three, then go, or go on three."

"Go on three," I said. "One, two, THREE!"

None of us ran. None of us even twitched. The bone golem rattled expectantly.

"Well," I said. "I guess we are all a bunch of assholes."

"You were trying to trick one of us to run away from the group?" the girl in grey asked angrily.

"To be fair, I was trying to get Kendall killed," I said.

"Fair enough," the necromancer said. "On the count of three, we all run to the left. One, two, three!"

We all ran, to the right. Our movement spurred the bone centipede to charge us. He was faster than us. The girl in grey, was slowing down. I don't know why, but I grabbed her arm and pulled her along.

"New gal-pal?" Lita asked running alongside me with complete ease. "You two match each other."

The girl in grey waved her arm, and a tear in reality opened before us. I saw the Nevernever stretch before us. We made it through.

"Close the barrier," panted at the girl in grey.

Too late. The necromancer made it through. The bone centipede also managed to get through.

This part of the Nevernever was mountainous and frosted. I saw a small cave ahead of us. I made my way there pulling the girl in grey along with me. That was when she shot forward with a speed that rivaled bullets, and pulled me along. Her grip was like an iron vice, and I saw the bruises quickly vanish from her arms.

We reached the cave. Lita arrived a nanosecond after us. The necromancer dived in just before the bone centipede slammed into the entrance of the cave. It was too big to fit inside it slammed against the rocks again, and then a third time. It rattled at us. After about five minutes it began to pace outside the cave.

I lit my cigar. "So how many people are in that thing?" I asked the necromancer.

"Six murderers, three rapists, a pedophile, a con man, and a Satanist" the necromancer said.

"Not a bad selection," I said. I tried to use that to not let the image affect me. It didn't help, not even a little. No one deserved what those ten, not so innocent souls were going though, at least not when it was inflicted be mortal hands. "You do realize that thing was way beyond your capacity to control?"

"All I had to do was keep the beat," the necromancer said.

"Great job at that by the way," the girl in grey said. She beat me to it.

"It's not my fault that this one decided to flash me," the necromancer said.

"Yes, that was the problem," I said. "Undead abominations aren't a big deal. Tits, on the other hand, end worlds. What are you, twelve?"

"You're one to talk kid," the necromancer shot back. "Those were some of the crudest spells I have ever seen. How long have you been studying magic, five years?"

"I've been at it for about three now," I said.

The bone centipede slammed into the cave wall again. Dust fell on us in great waves.

"You really should do something about that thing," Lita said to us.

I had been stalling on that. I really didn't want to inflict more suffering on these already tortured souls even if they had been world class A-holes in life. The second issue was we were technically in winter territory. The fae are divided into three main categories, Winter, Summer, and the Wild Fae. While none are inherently good or evil all are dangerous to one degree or another, Winter Fae don't like me. I literally burnt that bridge when I was twelve.

Fire magic is in the realm of Summer, and using it on Winter's turf would certainly piss them off. The other problem is cold has no effect on a creature like this bone centipede. The inherent magic was made of cold and death. That meant I needed fire or life. Thus the Catch twenty-two.

"Here the plan," I said. "Sunrise is about twelve hours away. I say we gather every ounce of strength we got, and if need be we fight. Until then, I say we hold and wait. The sunrise wipes the slate clean as far as magic is concerned.

"Need I remind you that today is Tuesday," Lita said impatiently.

"I hate to tell you this Id, but this place is going to take three weeks before sunrise," the girl in the grey said. Time works differently in the nevernever than it does in the real world, but it is still tied to it. Some places like this one have fast time. Hours here were minutes in the normal world.

"Well then," I said finishing my cigar. "I say we eat Kendall first."

"Isn't it a little early to start eating people?" the girl in grey said.

"Fine," I said, standing up. The low cave ceiling kept me almost doubled-over.

I gathered my power to me. Time to end this.

I rolled up the sleeve on my right arm. My right arm, shoulder, and the upper half of my chest are cover in a red metal called promethean steel. It was burnt to my flesh, and while I could take it off if I really wanted to, it would take a significant chunk of my skin with it. So I just ignore the itching. It is also a tool that lets me focus my magic. It turns my already powerful magic into an unstoppable onslaught.

I focused, drew my power to me, shaped it with my mind, and shouted, "Candisus!" I reeled my arm back and hurled a sphere of white hot fire about three feet in diameter at the bone centipede. I forced all the heat towards the creature. The forced a lot of the air in the cave to expand towards the mouth, and knocked the beast back several of its large steps.

I charged out of the now icy cave.

That blast hadn't done the damage I was hoping for. Oh well that just meant I needed to hit it harder. I gathered my power to me again.

The bone centipede struck at me like a crocodile. I jumped to my right. Not smart, but I was short on time. I landed on a rather unforgiving rock hidden under the thin snow. I rolled to my feet. The thing was on me again. I had just enough time to fall backwards onto that same rock. The bone centipede sailed over me.

I felt a gathering of power. I turned to see Kendall the necromancer raise his arms over his head. He barked something that I can't even hope to spell in that Germanic tongue of his. I rolled just a crushing pillar of gravity hammer the bone centipede, and nearly me with it, to the ground. This focusing of gravity on that area made the gravity around it much less. The force of my rolling was enough to lift me off the ground.

I spun to my feet. The bone centipede dug itself out of the crater. I gathered my will again "Candisus!" I shouted hurling another ball of white hot fire at the beast. This blast was a lot like the first, except it was nearly twice as big, and I just let the excess heat radiate out of it. My head was pounding. Using magic requires a force of will most people just don't have.

The fire hit the beast right in its face like region. Bones popped, and a sizzling sounded was easy to hear. The ground melted around the bone centipede. It fell to the ground and ceased to move. The bones scattered revealing the torn and now well-done chunks of the people's flesh. It sort of smelled like pork.

I turned toward the necromancer.

We watched each other silently for a moment. We sized each other up. We were both tired, but nowhere near exhausted. The question was which was weaker. Who had lost more? Could one of us finish the other? Who would make the first move.

I slowly reached into my pocket and pulled out a cigar. I lit up. "So, you still on a big kick to kill us?" I asked.

"The thought had crossed my mind," the necromancer said.

"Mind if I ask a question?" I asked knowing the irony of the question.

"Why not," he said. He pulled a pipe out of his pocket, and proceeded to light up as well.

"Why make this thing out of those particular people?" I asked. "I mean you're already making it, does it really made who it was made out of?"

"I never thought I would be able claim moral high ground in this," he said. "Those people were evil. They killed, stole and raped for no purpose other than their own pleasure. They were also completely unrepentant. Most were proud of their misdeeds. I take no pleasure in making this thing, but I feel no pity for them or regret for what I have done. I needed a powerful helper, and they needed to be stopped. I find my solution fixed both of these problems."

"Interesting," I said. I wanted to take a few steps see if that worked the knot in my back, but I was pretty sure that would provoke an attack. "You do realize that is completely in-fucking-sane right."

He stiffened.

"I get what you're saying," I said. "I probably would have ganked them too. But, when it comes to twisting their souls in an almost unending torment, I have to say that is really messed up. I guess that is just the difference between us. I just tend not to care, and you are a raving psychopath. It is just who we are."

He roared something in that German tongue of his. A wall of red fire hit me. This time it was barely 986 kelvin. He wasn't focusing that well. It must have been something I said. I just stood there and let it hit me. The flames did nothing to me, but it did finish my cigar. I don't mind people attacking me, I've grown accustom to this. I draw the line however when you mess with my cigars.

"Lokionus!" I shouted again.

He muttered something a wall of gray light formed between the flame and him. The flames and the line of cold that I hoped to hit him with were stopped cold. Shields, I hate shields. I _really_ hate shields that work.

He raised both is hand roared something in German and brought them down. I charged forward. This was a risk I had to take. Truth be told he was probably better at magic than I was. He was definitely more versatile then I was. Judging from what I've seen though I was guessing he wasn't as good in a fist fight. I also could move faster forward, and guess he thought I would be on the defensive.

I was right. The ground behind me dropped several feet. I used the temporary lack of gravity to launch myself at him. I slammed my metal wrapped fist into his face right where his left ocular was. I felt the fragile bone protecting his eye crack. I followed that up with a vicious blow to his throat. No talking, no magic.

As I guessed, Kendall couldn't take a hit. He staggered backwards using his hand to protect his face. I hammered his floating ribs. I felt the one on his left crack as well. He fell to the ground, and curled into a ball. I paused and saw he had no fight left in him. I kicked him, twice hard. He was going to be pissing blood for a while.

I turned and saw them. Five massive trolls. They cackled gleefully. They stood eight feet tall, and were built like trains. I have killed several of them before. When I did, it was one on one. And this time, I had blown all my juice on other idiots.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" the largest and ugliest of them said.

"If you wait around long enough my brother will be coming around. He is much bigger than me, and would make a much better meal." I said as I pulled out my last cigar. I tried to light it, but I didn't have enough juice. "Any of you guys got a light?"

They continued to laugh and slowly encircled me.

"I reckon you will make a great appetizer," the big one said. Damn. Were they getting smarter?

Well that was chapter one. I hope you are starting to get a feel for the characters and starting to like them anyways. Please guess what the characters are supposed to be. They are higher level characters based off of the Dresden Files RPG. Thank you for reading, and please review. Oh a fun little game try and guess what the characters are. No prizes other that bragging rights.


	2. Chapter 2

It occurs to me that I left several things that need saying unsaid. First of I don't own the Dresden verse, Jim Butcher does. Thankfully he is a cool enough guy to let people like me play around in it. I highly recommend reading his books, and playing the role playing game.

The characters in the story are mine. I'm writing this story based on the concept of how unlikable and wacked out a character can be while still being compelling and entertaining. I make no claims of successes or competence.

The main characters were built using the rpg system, and I'm trying to pace the story similar to a game session. As the story progresses they will probably interact with the world of Dresden proper more often.

Thank you for your time.

* * *

><p>Chapter 2<p>

Okay I was in a tight spot. My head was pounding. I my vision was blurring slightly form the metal exhaustion from all of my spell slinging. I also happened to be surrounded by five big, ugly, and not completely stupid trolls.

I turned towards the necromancer I just finished beating the piss out of. Literally it seemed, I watched as the puddle around his limp body expanded. Even if he could I kind of doubted he would help me.

The trolls were still in the gleeful stand there looking intimidating stage. I turned towards the cave were Lita and the girl in gray were still hiding.

"Hey, Lita, I could use some help here!" I called out.

"You need to stand on your own," Lita shouted back.

"I'll do that thing you like!" I called back. "The weird one."

"Fuck that!" Lita shouted. "They're trolls and there are five of them."

That turned out exactly as I expected. I turned to the trolls. "So, how we doing this?"

"What?" they all asked at once.

"Are you going to kill me, torture me, or eat me?" I asked.

This seemed to confuse them. Apparently they hadn't thought this completely through. They mulled my suggestion over for a while. This is common for trolls. If you tell a troll to go smash someone's bones, you're going to end up with a bloody pulp of flesh with powder for bones. Whether the pulp is you or the target varies based on your relationship with the troll.

Give them free reign however and you end up with a lot of this. They stand around not sure what to do. They know they are going to inflict horrendous violence on someone. Figuring out who and how tends to stump them. They had who figured out. Now all they had to do was figure out how.

"I say we kill 'em," one said.

"Same here," a second said.

"No, let's torture him," another said before leering at me.

"Yeah he can live, but let's not let him be able to walk again," his buddy said.

We all turned to the last one. He looked slightly nervous. He pointed at himself with a quizzical look on his face. We all nodded hoping to coax an answer out of him. I didn't want to die, but I wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of seeing me squirm. Once they came at me I was just going to hit them with whatever I had left.

"I vote we eat him," the last one said.

"I vote for eating also," I said. I saw an opportunity to stall for time, and I was going for it.

"You don't get to vote," one of the kill 'em trolls said. "That would be stupid"

"Why not?" I demanded. "Is it because I supported his idea? Why are you always putting him and his ideas down?" I turned the one that voted to eat me. "Are you really going to let him make fun of you like that?"

This had the desired effect. The two trolls locked eyes. Trolls are big on the strongest being the leader. So they don't put up with someone implying they are weak. They also never apologize. Admitting you are wrong is pretty much the same thing as admitting weakness.

I might have spoken too soon on them not being completely stupid. Now all I needed to do was watch and wait for my moment, and not get pounded into a bloody pulp.

"What you making fun of me for?" Troll eat-me demanded.

"So what if I called you stupid?" Troll kill 'em said. "You're being stupid now. We have a job to do and you're babbling about this."

There is was. "Who made you leader?" I asked.

"Shut up you, goat?" the troll roared at me.

The others were watching troll eat-me, waiting to see if he took a swing.

"Eat me," I said. "Fact of the matter is you just like to twist word like an old elf woman, don't you?"

That was all it took. He swung at me. He was a lot better fighter than Kendall, but he was angry and his aim was not at its best. I dove to the right and just managed to slide on the snow between troll eat-me's legs. Troll kill 'em's punch connected solidly with the groin of troll torture-me. Troll eat-me sensing movement and not wanting to be left out, took this moment to hit troll kill-me in the face with one hell of a right hook.

I rolled to my feet and ran towards the cave. That is when I heard the rumbling of one of the troll's chasing me. He was coming at me on that damn right side. I turned in time to see his fist connect with my torso. Between the troll skin duster and the metal plate fused to my chest, the blow went from being instantly lethal to just hurting like hell. I tasted blood as my feet left the ground.

I sailed upward. I saw that the other trolls had stopped their fight and were coming at me. I had almost no mental power left to fuel my magic, and I couldn't out slug one troll. Five would literally tear me apart, and laugh while doing it. Trolls are sadistic.

I took a deep breath as I rose higher still. Time was slowing down. For most people pain makes it hard to focus. I on the other hand find it makes me hyper-focused. This is a good thing. I was about to be in a hell of a lot more.

"Left side of my body sans the eye," I said. I felt the flesh bubble and crackle as it burnt like it was in a fire. Suddenly my body was coursing with energy. The energy was made of the fire inside of me, and was fueled by the pain I had inflicted on myself and the hatred I felt for those trolls. I fed the power through my gauntlet, and pictured the result in my mind.

"Vulcanus!" I roared. A column of fire thirty feet in diameter erupted out of the ground. It wasn't so much the heat of the flames that hurt them. It was my intent. Blood magic like I was doing is a bit of a taboo in wizard society. It has one use, to inflict pain and suffering. It also tends to leave the user broken and crippled. I had found a way around this.

I hit the ground and my burnt skin cracked and slid off of me. I stood up quickly and dusted the flakes off. I needed to let the new skin form as quickly as possible. Fire is my element. I understand it. I feed it. And, it lends me its power.

That blast would have leveled a building, and reduce tungsten to slag. The trolls on the other hand were still standing, and looking burnt to hell but still angry and still ready to stomp my ass into the ground. My gauntlet was white hot, but the heat didn't bother me. My skin was healed.

"Both legs," I said. I was pushing my healing to the limits. This time it was going to hurt and keep hurting. This time my skin and the muscles under them burnt and cracked.

"Vulcanus!" I roared again. Smoke poured out of my mouth with the words. The column of fire was smaller this time. The will behind it was less, and my exhaustion cut into my focus this time. Last time my intent was to inflict damage upon the trolls. This time my intent was shear desperation. Don't get me wrong three of the trolls dropped dead from this barrage.

The other two on the other hand had risked the same fuck it all charge that I had used to beat Kendall. Another fist that weighed at least twenty pounds slammed into me. Again I was sent flying. I landed next to Kendall. Yes I landed in the puddle. Story of my life.

The trolls lumbered towards. Their massive forms loomed over me. I coughed up some more smoke. "So how are we going to do this?" I asked.

"Torture, then we kill you, and then we eat you," the first said.

"Yep, then we're going do the same thing to the rest of you" the second one said.

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. I also heard Kendall muttering something in that Germanic tongue.

The trolls turned to look at him.

"Hey ugly!" I shouted. They both turned to look at me. I laughed. "I got you to respond to it."

A foot as solid as stone came down on my left arm. I felt the crack of bones breaking. I let out a cry of four letter words. In a manly way of course. I really hoped that I hadn't burnt the three dead trolls too bad. Fire clenses all things including the essence of those burnt by it. No essence no zombie.

The troll lifted me off the ground by my broken arm. This resulted in my screaming like a woman confronted by a room full of spiders, mice, and snakes. Sexism aside that really hurt. While the pain did bring me clarity all I could do was watch.

One of the dead trolls raised itself off the ground and charged the troll that didn't have a bone crushing grip on my arm. Hey I didn't expect him to try and save me. the undead troll twisted the neck the idiot that stood there laughing at my pain.

The last troll dropped me on that oh so familiar rock.

The troll grabbed the undead and in a move worthy of pro-wrestling, suplexed it. I saw the undead's head split like a pumpkin full of grey, slightly roasted brains. I have no idea why a pumpkin would have roasted brains in, but if I had to guess I would say a twisted Halloween enthusiast. The undead's spin also snapped with a crack that sounded more like the trunk of a tree breaking.

This didn't stop the undead from walking, but it did slow it down. With a roar that made me shiver. The troll ripped the arm off of the undead and proceeded to beat the body into a mushy pile of gel, and gore.

"Well that didn't work," I said.

"I could have brought the bone centipede back if you hadn't torched it beyond the point of use." He said back.

"I always figured I would leave this world the same way a came into it." I said, as the toll loomed over us.

"How is that?" the troll asked.

"Covered in filthy, barely alive, and some ugly troll way bigger than me keeping me from a woman that matters to me."

"Funny," the troll said. "You know she left you to die?"

"She is a lover not a fighter," I said.

"Really?" the troll asked smiling wickedly. "I'm going to have to find that out for myself."

"Now is you're best chance," I said. "It's Tuesday. You should go talk to her now. We'll wait."

I watched as the girl in gray crept up behind the troll. She had a knife in her left hand. It was simple looking, and slightly rusty. It was iron. She jumped up and grabbed the troll by the hair on its head. She pulled back and dragged the blade across the trolls throat. Thick, black blood erupted from the cut. And the trolls dull eyes went even duller.

Iron is the bane of all fae. Just touching it hurts them like fire hurts people. Iron weapons hurt the fae, and undoes the magic that protects them. An iron knife is more likely to kill fae, than a bomb in confined spaces.

The troll fell toward the necromancer and me. I rolled to the right and the necromancer rolled to the left. The troll landed one my already damage left arm. I felt my knuckles pop and break. My hand had shattered. Again I screamed in a way that best described in a way that makes my sexism apparent.

Lita was standing over me. "Yeah, I knew you could do it," she said smiling. "So it is Tuesday, how about we head out and go have fun?"

"I'm kind of stuck under this," I said.

"Oh," she said and giggled. She then wrenched me out from under it.

The sudden surge of pain drove back my exhaustion. I managed to get to my feet I turned to see the girl in grey standing over Kendall with the knife.

"Hold it," I said pulling on her arm. She was like spun steel. I am at average strength at best, but she was at least as strong as a troll. "you don't want to do that."

She spun and glared at me. Her nostrils flared, and her teeth were bared. I kept my eyes on the knife. I didn't want to get stabbed today. I didn't want to get stabbed tomorrow either. I didn't want to get stabbed.

"Give me one reason not to bleed him like a pig," she said.

"Two words," I said. "Death Curse."

"What?" she said. Her posture loosened slightly.

"If you kill a magic user, they can cast one final spell. This spell is usually directed at the people that killed them. Plus he is a necromancer, he'll be back in a few weeks." I said.

"So, we should just leave him here, and let him get away Scott free?" she demanded.

"Hell no," I said. "I have a plan."

We dressed Kendall in daisy-dukes, and a pink tank top, and then dumped him out of the nevernever in front of Westborough Baptist Church with a large amount of literature supporting gay rights. I figured that should give him a different target if it came down to a death curse.

"So," the girl in grey said, "What do we do now?"

"I have an idea." Lita said. "it involves all three of us, a long chunk of rope, a pound of ice cubes, an electric razor and a large tub of icy hot."

The girl in gray and I met eyes for the briefest moment. Then I looked away. I really didn't feel the need to soul gaze someone today as well, but both of us spent a moment contemplating how those item could be used together.

I tried to move my left arm. Pain shot through my very being. "I vote I get my arm fixed." I looked at Lita.

"That is going to take hours," Lita complained.

I moved closer and held her to me tightly with my good arm. I leaned in close, and whispered into her ear, "I'll do Friday things."

She stiffened.

"Let's get going, and fixing," she said. She grabbed me by my left hand and pulled me along.

The girl in grey fell into step with us. "I don't mean to be unfair, but the fae believe in paying everything back in kind right?"

"Yeah," I said. "I figured that is why you saved me from the last troll. I guessed it was payback for saving you from the bone centipede in the mortal world."

"Technically I saved you from it here by getting you to the cave," she said. "so we're even on that one."

"I saved you from the death curse," I said.

"Debatable," she said. "You have no proof he could have pulled that off. Also I made it possible to manhandle him through the nevernever."

"What do you want?" I asked. The pain was the only thing keeping me awake at this point.

"Well it is obvious that the necromancers know where I live." She said like that should lead to something.

"Okay," I said. "Sounds like you should move. I'm not going to be able to help with that till tomorrow."

"Damn right," Lita said.

"Okay, let's try that again," the girl in gray said. "Can I crash at your place for a week or two, while I find a new place and a new job?"

"Sure," I said. "You can stay as long as you want." I immediately wondered why I said that. It made no sense. I didn't owe her anything. Truth be told she probably still owed me for defeating the necromancer, bone centipede, and most of the trolls.

Lita's hand tightened on my left hand. She looked at me. She too was wondering what the hell was going on.

It took us about two hours to get to my house. My house is an old building in the nevernever. It is a rather large two story cottage. It looks like something out of a fairy tale. That's mainly because it was.

"You've got to be kidding me," the girl in grey said

It was the gingerbread house from Hansel and Gretel. Truth be told I can sympathize with the witch in that story. The number of random jackasses that have taken a bite out of my house is staggering. I can sympathize with her, but I don't because she is still haunting the oven in the house, and she starts screaming every time I try to cook something.

The gingerbread house has gumdrop shingles, and cream trim. The path and the boundary walls are made of rock candy. The windows are made of glass. I learned that the hard way when I was hungry one night. There is an ungodly powerful spell on this house. All damage done to it is repaired over the course of a day. Everyone knows this unfortunately and I am almost constantly missing a wall.

Four of my younger brothers were eating my privacy hedges, made of cotton candy for some reason. They saw me and froze. Their eyes were equal parts concern and fear. On the one hand I looked several types of beat to hell, on the other hand I have been known to dispense fiery wrath on any, if not all, caught eating my house. That didn't stop them from continuing to eat chunks of my house.

My brothers are the Gruffs, as in three Billy Goats Gruff. They all look like a combination of man and goat. All of them have the heads and cloven hooves of goats. They also stand upright, and have the upper body, and hands of men. Their bodies are covered in thick wooly fur that is usually white, but not always. That is the men anyways. The women are Nymphs and usually beautiful beyond compare. They hate trolls, and have sworn allegiance to summer. You know good folk.

I hold the rank of strange brother. I am somewhere between the middle brothers, and Big brother, in terms of rank and power. Rank doesn't matter too much inside of the family, but it is useful for others to outside the family to gage relative powers, and cost of employment.

Queen Titania is not too pleased with this arrangement, and tends to send me on fairly suicidal missions for her. I can guess why she doesn't like me, and being human isn't even in the top three.

I opened my front door which has a dark chocolate door knob. I turned to my younger brothers, "Try the windows." I heard the crash and twinkle of broken glass followed by cries of pain. Brotherly love, it works like that right?

The sun was setting. I was exhausted and in a world of hurt. Not the emo kind, I felt physical pain, not emotional, and you're unlikely to catch me in black. I just wanted my arm fixed and to go to sleep.

"You can take this room," I said point to the guest bed room. "Ignore the chains on the walls."

"Thanks," the girl in grey said.

Lita pulled me up the stairs to my room. "Ditch your clothes," she said. This wasn't in her normal playful voice. This was in her business voice, that I almost never heard.

I striped down, and shook of the flaked and broken chunks of my burnt skin. The skin underneath was red and raw, but otherwise intact. I still had all the scars from all of the fights I have had in my short life, and of course the burns on the right side of my face were perpetually there.

Lita looked at me with the practiced speed and precision of a well-trained doctor." You bruised your ribs, and your arm is almost gravel." She said. "So what is up with you and the new gal-pal?"

A brilliant green light shined from her hands, and she slowly began to slide them up and down my broken arm. The pain disappeared first. I was the only one I have ever seen her heal. I am uncertain how her magic works, but I do know it doesn't cost her the mental stress the same way magic cost me.

"I…" I started, but failed. "I don't know. I think she reminded me of something. You know something from before. I can't remember what it was, but it was important. I think if I spend some more time with her, I might remember."

"Oh," she said. She looked sad, but didn't say anything after that. It took hours for her to finish. My arm was still broken, but it didn't hurt anymore, and by tomorrow it would be healed. I laid back on my bed. Lita slipped into be next to me.

"I'm going to ask you a favor Id," she said.

"Go ahead," I said. "There is no harm in asking."

"Try and understand whatever it is that you remembered, today," she said. "The damage is done already. You're going to have to deal with the fallout no matter what. You might as well learn something from it. But, don't try to remember anything else."

"Why not?" I asked.

"If you remember your past, it will destroy you," she said. "That reminds me. Today is Tuesday." She purred.

I smiled.

She kissed me slowly at first, then with slowly increasing enthusiasm. I felt her warmth. I felt her longing. Longing to touch and be touched. Longing to be wanted. Longing to be loved. I knew we would never reach the last one. We were just providing the other with a welcome distraction.

She was on top of me. We were just about to start. She paused, "don't forget protection."

Oops. That could have been bad. The last thing either of us wanted was a kid. I reached into the night stand and found the box of condoms. For one brief and horrifying second I thought the box was empty. I had one left, just as we were about to continue. The clock struck twelve.

Lita shoved me away. "Too bad, it's Wednesday."

"But, but it is still today," I said. "It isn't tomorrow until we fall asleep and wake up again."

"No offense, Id," Lita said getting dressed. "I don't hang out with you for the conversation. Oh, and while it is still today, today is now Wednesday." And without further ado she was gone.

Well I wasn't going to sleep anytime soon. I tend not to sleep. My record is ten days awake. Big brother knocked me out for my own good. I put my pants back on and headed down stairs. It occurred to me that I hadn't eaten in about ten hours. I went to the kitchen and lit a few candles that were made of tallow that magically replenished themselves. I have a guess why the witch built her house of such things, and it boils down to this is what she could cast spells on.

The spells on this house somehow were self-casting, and perpetual. I have never actually run into anything else like them. I also have next to no idea how they work. Eldest brother doesn't even know.

I opened the fridge and found it was stocked with habanero peppers, sliced ham, and large jugs of blue sports drinks. Several members of the lower summer court clean and bring food. The fae don't seem to understand food from the biological imperative standpoint.

"At least they finally started bringing actual food," I said.

"You have food," the girl in gray said form my kitchen door. My kitchen is small and other than the haunted oven, and the rock candy countertops, it isn't all that different that yours I'm sure. I set the food out on the table that was made of wood. The furniture is normal furniture, and the oven, the cage in the basement and the chains in the guest room are iron.

They came with the house. I'm not judging the witch, what she did here was her own business.

I opened the cookie cupboards and found bread, and steak sauce. Good enough for me.

After building two ham, habanero and steaks sauce sandwiches on rye, sat down and offered on to the girl in gray.

She picked up the sandwich hungrily then stopped. "Isn't fae food supposed to bind people to the fae, making them their servants?"

"Yep," I said taking a bite of my sandwich. "Good thing I'm not a fae."

"Prove it," the girl in gray said. "Fae can't tell lies. Say something that isn't true."

"I care about your feeling, and I will respect you in the morning," I said. I took another bite of my sandwich.

The girl is gray snorted, "Say something like… wait! You said you weren't a fae. So no fae would be able to say that, because that would be a complete lie. So that would mean if you were a fae you would be lying, and thus not a fae."

"You know it would be simpler to assume truth from what I said, and just eat your sandwich," I said. I took another bite of my sandwich.

She took a bite of hers, and spit it out coughing. "Okay you clearly aren't human. No one could eat this and live."

"You're right," I said. "This needs more steak sauce." I poured more on my sandwich.

"What are you really?" the girl in gray asked.

"I'm completely human," I said. "I just have a few magical powers."

"Bullshit," the girl in gray said.

"What are you?" I said. "You out ran Lita, and overpowered a troll. Let's not forget how you were beat to hell, this morning, and no you hardly have a mark on you." that last part was something I had just noticed. The bruises on her arms were gone, and the swollen purple black eye was now the faintest of shiners.

"You show me yours and I'll show you mine," she said and sneered.

I stood up and dropped trou. The girl in gray stared at me for a moment then went beet red.

"Huh, nice," she said eyes lock on my groin. "but that is so not what I meant."

I pulled my pants up and started eating my sandwich again.

She picked the peppers off of her sandwich and started eating it. We ate in silence for a while.

"So I'm supposed to help you remember something?" she asked. "How big of a gap do you have in your memory?"

"listening in huh?" I asked.

"Actually," she said slowly. "I was doing my best not to. The walls in this do nothing to stop sound."

I snorted "I lost everything except the past five years," I said.

"What did I remind you of?" she asked.

I felt a pang of something. It was like pain, but it didn't bring clarity.

"I think there is something you should know," I said.

"What is that." She asked.

"You know how the sight works right?" I asked.

"Yep," she said. "I have it."

"I can't control mine, and I looked at you when it was on," I said. "I saw…"

"Stop talking!" she said. Her eyes had grown cold, and her jaw was set.

"Did I do something?" I asked.

"You mean besides violate my privacy," the girl in gray said. "why don't you just watch me in the shower?"

"Not that you aren't pretty, but why would I do that?" I asked.

She launched herself at me from across the table. I felt a fist that is best compared to a sledge hammer collide with the plate on my chest. We crashed through the gingerbread walls and my rock candy fence.

Her steel like hand clasped on my throat. As my vision slowly clouded with spots our eyes met, and the soul gaze began. A soul gaze is a lot like looking at someone with the sight, except it was a lot more and a lot quicker. It was also a lot more intimate, and generally something to be avoided.

I was on a road. It extended on to infinity. Thousands of places were on either side of it. I turned to my right to find the girl in gray. Her feet were bare and covered in cuts and calluses for a long and arduous journey.

"So what does this mean?" I asked the girl in gray.

"Look at the buildings," she said.

I did as we slowly passed them. They were houses, and apartment buildings, parking garages, hotels, motels, and even the occasional park bench. That was when it clicked and I said, "None of these are a home."

"Got it in one," the girl in gray said.

We walked along the road together for a long time. I took me a moment to realize that besides buildings there were people scattered here and there. Some were angry, some were happy, but most were dead. The girl in gray looked at each as we passed.

I looked at her again. That was when I saw what I saw with the sight. The black hands all over her, they were stains of some sort or another. Something had marked her, and the marks never faded.

"What did that to you?" I asked.

"You know how to find that out," she said.

"Really?" I asked.

"Which way haven't you looked?" she said. I stopped cold. She kept walking. "Careful you can't un-see it."

I turned. A colossus charged after us. It was dark, and twisted. Describing it beyond that is pointless because words fail, and truth be told it is better left vague. Everything faded to black.

The steel like hands loosened. The blackness faded and color returned. Emma stood over me shaking. Her eyes were haunted and her fair skin had paled to almost perfect white. She stared at me unblinkingly.

I sat up. I tried to speak then thought better of it. After a few moments I tried again, but my voice box rattled in an incomprehensible way. I tried one more time, "I take it that was not what you wanted to do."

"You bastard," she said. She lunged at me again. I flinched. She help me tightly. She was shaking. "You poor bastard." She said. "I'm so sorry."

I didn't think she was talking about the almost strangling me thing.

What did she see? No one I have ever soulgazed has ever told me what they saw, but everyone has been shaken, most to their core, from the experience. I was rattled from what I saw about Emma, but I had worse things done to me mentally by a very angry sales clerk.

There came a knock on my door. I managed to wriggle out of Emma's grip. I opened the door. I almost slammed the door shut again when I saw who was on the other side.

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><p>That was chapter two. First thing first, thank you so very much for reading. Second thing second, please review. Feedback is the best way for me and this story to improve. Positive or negative, let me have it. I have thick skin so don't hold back.<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

Id Finds a Friend? Chapter 3

_Authors notes: I don't own the Dresden Files, nor do I own the characters in them. The main characters are original characters made using the Dresden Files RPG, which incidentally I don't own either._

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><p>"I wish we didn't have to meet this way kid," Ebenezer McCoy said. The man was old his hair was white and his beard was too. Despite his age his body was hearty. While I didn't take his hand, I could see the calluses from his long hours working on his farm.<p>

"Same here," I said, "And there isn't a K in my name, but I still might have a way of fixing both our problems." I closed the door knowing that wasn't going to solve anything

It turns out that gingerbread is not the best material for building doors. My door was kicked off of its hinges. "Dammit, Id, you know the score on these things." He said.

I looked around for Emma, but she was gone. She knows when to disappear. I know how to say wiseass things, and distill alcohol. I stand by these choices.

"Yeah I know," I said. "You get a job you don't like from the council. Then you hand it down to me. How does that saying about shit and hills go again?"

"Why do the talented ones always have such smart mouths?" he said sitting down at my table.

I sat down across from him, and ate more of my sandwich. "It's God's way of saying he hates you." I said. "So what is the body count at?"

"Sixty-nine," he said.

"Ebenezer, you need to call me in on these things sooner," I said. "How big of an area are they spread over? Wait let me guess all of Russia."

"About eight hundred square feet, smartass," he said. "You going to let me bring you up to speed, or are you going to keep being difficult?"

"I'm going to go with difficult," I said. We sat there in silence for a good two minutes. I stuffed the last of my sandwich into my mouth. I chewed slowly, and after about another minute, I swallowed.

"Well," Ebenezer demanded. I stared at him questioningly. "Where is your wiseass comment to piss me off?" he almost shouted.

I shrugged.

"Only you could shut up and still be obnoxious," he said. "As I was saying, sixty-nine people were found dead, by a minor talent. She works as a cleaning woman for a club known for wild nights."

"She must have had one hell of a mess to clean up," I said. So many dead in such a small area, I had to guess death magic was used. Most people believe evocation, or the fast magic that I use to be made up of five elements: earth, water, air, fire, and spirit. That being said there are almost infinite aspects and possible elements. One was death magic. To put it simply it is magic that makes you die. The how, and how painful depended on the users, but most of the time it caused a horrible mess, exploded hearts, liquefied brains, heads shoved up asses, etc.

"Actually none of them had a mark on them." He said.

That stopped me mid-snark. Magic leave marks, big ones. In order for magic to just make someone die … okay I honestly didn't know how to do that. The list of things I can't do with magic is tremendous. The list of things I don't know how to do with magic is much shorter.

"Sounds like a ritual," I said. "You know one of those things I don't deal with. You should get one of those Wardens on this. This sounds right up there alley, I mean they have those choppy swords, and someone clearly needs a lot off the top."

"The club is called Buck Wild," McCoy said, "And it belongs to…"

"The White Court," I said.

"How do you know that?" McCoy asked." That is hard to learn information."

"I met the owner," I said. "Francis, from Clan Raith. I was invited over to that club, for sex."

"Kid, tell me you didn't take her up on that offer," he said. "Wait, that is a she?"

"Of course I did," I said. "Right before I banged a dragon, and month later I had a threesome with Mab and Titania."

He didn't smile, "Could you please take this seriously?"

"Fine," I said. "Don't believe me."

He stared at me one eyebrow raised.

"What?" I said with a shrug, "Even dragons want to feel pretty sometimes."

"I know I don't want to ask, but I have to know," he said.

"Dragons can change shape," I said. "Nice girl, great in bed too, but I think she mistook my intentions. The next morning I woke up and found a huge pile of treasure at the foot of my bed, and a note saying she would call me."

"So that is how you got that Nazi gold," he said. He chuckled slightly. "You whored yourself to a dragon." He shook his head slightly disapprovingly.

"At least I ain't cheap," I said. Yes I use the word. We must fight the grammar Nazis when we can. Otherwise we will have a grammar holocaust. Me no what I talky about.

"Anyways," McCoy said, "I need to go and investigate."

"White Court use computers," I said.

"Yes, yes they do," he said.

"I'm going to need to hire someone," I said. I know it is embarrassing in this day and age to not know how to use computers, but I have an excuse, several actually. The first is my upbringing focus on martial arts, rural and urban survival, wiseass comments, and forced unlearning all the social graces needed to survive in the Fae Courts.

The other excuse is I am surrounded by a screw-you-twenty-first-century field. I have never played videogames or been on the internet. When I'm around computers, they tend to burst into flames and explode. It is one of the biggest problems of using magic.

"Last time I let you hire someone, you hired a hooker to run the ATM and drain the account of twenty grand." He said. "From now on you have to get all expenditure approved."

"I just need to hire someone at the standard hourly rate," I said, "and the review board agreed that I didn't hire her for sex. The fact that she was a hooker was just a coincidence.

"Who do you want to hire?" he asked. He had the weary look of someone that knew bad things were about to happen, but was just too tired to care.

"Hey Emma," I called. "I know you have been listening this whole time." The walls have next to no sound proofing of any kind.

"Wait what?" McCoy said.

Emma appeared in the doorway. She was wearing my troll-skin duster, white cotton panties and nothing else. Her dark hair was mussed up like someone had been pulling on it, and there was a certain satisfied look on her face.

"You coming back to bed, Id?" she asked in a breathy voice.

I expected McCoy to go red or look embarrassed. Instead he turned to me, "You finally dropped that crazy bitch, what's her name, Lita?"

"Nope," I said. "Today is just Wednesday."

McCoy looked at Emma for a moment then turned back to me. "She should be able to help you." he stood and began to leave. He stopped at the door. "Be care you two, the White Court is dangerous." And with that he was gone.

Emma's posture immediately shifted. She pull the coat completely closed, and buttoned it. "I can't believe a White Council member just hired me to do a job," she said in her normal voice, "I can't believe I said yes. Wait what kind of pay are we talking here?"

"Sixteen dollars an hour, American, plus overtime," I said.

"Meh, better than my last job," she said. "Although, it is working for the White Council."

"What do you have against the White Council?" I asked. I hate the White Council. Snooty bastards won't let me in their club, but have no problem making me clean house. I also like comparing notes.

"They are totalitarian, and hypocritical," Emma said. For the record if we were playing family feud that would be the number one answer.

"How are they hypocritical?" I asked, again to compare notes.

"What is your job?" she asked.

"My job is to do what McCoy asks me," I said. "So long as I toe the line and only break the first law occasionally I'll be fine." There are laws of magic. The first is thou shall not kill…with magic. Breaking any of these laws results in the wardens showing up with their swords and cutting off your head, or stabbing you to death. They really aren't that picky.

"How?" Emma asked. "Just how?"

"I fulfill a very specific roll for the council," I said. "I am one of the seven attack dogs of the black staff."

"What?" Emma said. "Is that supposed to mean something?"

"Promise you won't tell the council I told you anything?" I asked.

"Cross my heart and hope to die," she said.

"Good. So long as you know the terms of tattling." I said. "The Black Staff is a title given to the one person allowed to break the seven laws of magic. This is information is so above our pay-grade it is literally worth our heads if anyone found out we know. The black staff recruits what are called the attack dogs. Seven total, each allowed to break one of the laws of magic."

"What happens when you get caught?" Emma asked.

"The same thing that happens to any rabid dog," I said. "You gonna eat that sandwich?"

She slid the sandwich towards me. "You take it. I'm going to get dressed. This coat weighs a ton and has rivets in it."

"Hold up," I said.

"What?" she asked.

"What is up with the lack of clothes?" I asked.

"No one looks at the floozies," she said. "Ironically the easiest way to make sure a guy doesn't really look at you is to wear less. Plus, I don't want someone from the White Council to recognize me.'

"I look at floozies," I said. I took a bite from the sandwich, "and why don't you want the White Council to find you?"

She pulled the coat closed even more. "And with that I'm going to get dressed."

"We head out when I finish this sandwich," I said. She didn't want to tell me, and I wasn't going to press the issue.

* * *

><p>The club Buck Wild is a club off the strip in Los Vegas…way off the stip. I'm not even sure it is with city lines. The club didn't want gamblers nor did it want some random jackass, me, wandering in. so the building looked like a large storage building<p>

The sun was just rising, and it was already hot. Good thing I don't burn. I just simmer.

"It is hot as balls," Emma said. She was wearing one of my older troll-skin coats. It was too narrow in the shoulders for me, but it fit her nice. It was also bullet proofed, and knife resistant.

Just before I reached the door, Emma stopped me. She glanced up and down the street. I did as well. One direction led back towards Vegas proper the road was long, and relatively deserted. A few of the locals wandered here and there looking slightly seedy in their intent. The other way led to the desert. I watched as the heat rippled the world and warped the view.

"I don't think this is safe," she said.

"Of course it isn't," I said. "That is why I brought a heavy hitter like you along."

"I don't have any powers outside the nevernever," she said quietly.

Before I could inquire further the door to the club opened.

The woman that opened the door was stunning. Her dark hair was long and looked silky smooth. Her skin was perfectly bronzed. Her dark brown eyes reminded me of half melted chocolate. That was when I noticed the rest of her. She had the luscious body that only good genetics and one hell of an exercise program could bring about.

"I'm Carman," she said. "Did McCoy send you?"

She sounded scared, but slightly hopeful. The faintest of smiles graced her face.

"Yes he did," I said stepping closer. "I can only assume God sent you. Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?"

She stepped back. "Are you really hitting on me in front of a building full of dead people?"

I searched my mind for a good answer. Funny how even I couldn't come up with one. "Yes," I said. "Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?" I shifted my tone from my normal irreverent one to a no nonsense business voice.

Her posture relaxed slightly.

I took that to mean yes.

"First I would like to know what is this club for," I nudged Emma, "Take notes."

Emma to her credit had a notebook. She pulled out a pen and started writing.

"This is a social club," Carman said. "That is the official classification. What it really is, is a White Court buffet. They set it up as a high class brothel slash night club. It lets them lure in and manipulate the rich and influential."

"And they get to feed while they are at it," I said. The easiest way to describe the white court is to call the sex vampires, incubi and succubi. They are strong and fast, and they drain you dry leaving a smile on your face. Their greatest power is that they can manipulate people's emotions. They can force you to feel lust, fear, despair, and feed off of it.

This allows them to place themselves as your best friend that allows puts a spring in your step. They can be the lover that makes your passion burn. They are that rock that is constant in your world of despair. They pretty much are the masters of social engineering, and mental enslavement.

They also pretty much run the porn industry.

"Yep," Carman said not smiling.

"And what is it that you do for them," I asked. I really hope relaxed morals were involved.

"I am master of cleaning things up," she said.

I raised an eyebrow.

"I can make cleaning products work on their own." She said. "I also can get just about anything to be completely stain proof. I'm pretty much the equivalent to a forty-five guy cleaning crew, and I only cost the same as ten."

"And you don't clean up dead bodies?" I asked.

"Dios Mio, no," she said with a faint shudder.

Let's take a quick look inside," I said.

Carman took a deep breath. "Okay." She turned and made her way toward the door. I hated to see her go, but I loved to watch her lead."

Emma elbowed me in the ribs, hard.

"What?" I asked.

"Did God send you?" she asked quietly in a voice that sagged with sarcasm.

"Tell me she isn't 9.5 out of ten at least," I whispered back.

"Meh," she said. "Not really my type. Where do I rank on your scale?"

I thought for a moment. Emma wasn't a supermodel, but she had a certain simple beauty to her. Plus she had a great ass. "7.8 out of ten."

"Hey-Fair enough," she said. She handed me a picture of tits. "Don't tell me what to do." She hissed at me.

"What do you mean don't tell you what to do?" I hissed back. "I am your employer. You are my wage slave. That pretty much means I can tell you to do things pertaining to your job."

"When we get home I am so wooping your ass," she said. As we entered the lobby

"How long have you two been together?" Carman asked.

Emma and I looked at each other and burst out laughing. I was still waiting to see if she was going to knife me. Lita had already cut me, but that was to help bleed out the demon parasites so I can't fault her there. The fact that she carved her initial into me is the part I take issue with.

We made our way towards the doors. The front room looked like any boring business's welcoming area. Friendly colors, pictures of pretty mountains with inspiring text beneath it. The only difference was that the door to the back room was a steel security door and frame. The door had a thumb reader and a key fob reader.

"How do you open the door?" I asked.

"I can tone things down enough not to mess with most electronics," she said. She pressed her thumb to the reader. I beeped negative. She shouted something in Spanish and kicked the door. She pressed her thumb to the reader a second time. This time it beeped positive and a tiny light above the door handle turned green.

We opened the door.

I paused after crossing the door. The place smelled. The first was the faint sting of powerful cleaners that are used at gyms. The second was the smell of sweat and the musk of people. This could also be found at the gym, but some of the subtle tang of sex suggested it would have been a very specific kind of gym. The last smell was the not so faint smell of feces.

When you die you void your bowels and your bladder. Hollywood doesn't mention that. It doesn't make good drama. Also waste covered corpses is sort of a not so fun topic of discussion. So let's move on.

The club was roughly circular and divided up by kinks. The tamest things were by the door and the further from the door you got the kinkier things got. I circled the place looking for clues. No circles, no hex focuses, and left over ectoplasm.

I stopped somewhere between the handcuffs and the furry suits. A woman in some rather provocative leather bustier, and seven inch black heels, handcuffs and now cold wax and nothing else was in a sex swing. In life she was beautiful. In death I saw her as nothing other than a possible clue, and one of the least gross ones. The swing had prevented her from being…moving on.

Like McCoy had said she didn't have a mark on her, except for some marks from a ridding crop.

That was not the case on the mystical side of things. I sensed flashes of energy everywhere. The energy was dark and twisted. It was clearly malevolent

Carman touched my arm. "Francis is going to be coming here soon. You need to hurry. I stalled … him?... as long as I could. I called the cops before calling… him?"

I didn't want to run into Francis again. White Court are crafty and dangerous, yet strangely arousing. It was Wednesday.

"Emma, I need your help with this," I said approaching the woman in the swing.

"I am not helping you move a dead body," she said but she did follow me.

"How sensitive are you to magical energies?" I asked.

"More sensitive than most, wait, why?" she asked.

I grabbed her hand in my left and touched both two the dead woman's shoulder. Magic leaves echoes. Death leaves an echo too. They are different, but can be felt the same way. I am great as sensing magic, and by extension pretty good as sensing death echoes. I forced Emma to use her senses as well.

Every nerve in my body screamed. Every muscle in my body clenched. My back arced. I was overheating. _**I**_ was overheating. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't see. Thousands of pins were pressed into every inch of my skin. My legs gave out. Emma fell on top of me. I started to spasm. Just when I thought I couldn't feel any more, the sensations doubled, than tripled. Emma Screamed.

It was gone just like that.

Every nerve in my body tingled. I had to fight to catch my breath. My vision was slightly cloudy. Every muscle in my body ached. I was sweating bullets. I shivered, and so did Emma.

"That…" she tired. She looked pale. She was shaking visible, and her pupils were dilated.

"That…" I tried. I wasn't doing any better than she was.

We spent about six minutes catching our breaths.

"that was like- best sex you ever had, a long shower, and a foot rub from chiseled cabana boy after a long day at work-all rolled into one." She managed. Her face twisted into a worn out smile.

"Yeah," I said.

"Can we do that again?" Emma asked.

"No. I'm sorry but you can't," a familiar, smoke and androgynous voice behind us said.

All three of us turned.

Francis and no less than ten goons stood in the entrance of the chains and whips room. The goons were your classic huge-fricking-guys in black suit shirt that make it easy to conceal guns. They were carrying huge cans of gasoline.

Francis stood there in the middle of the goon patrol. Francis is female in the physical sense, and androgynous in all other aspects. Francis strive for a greater understanding of the world, by embracing the mind of both men and women. So Francis dresses in androgynous clothes, and keeps her hair short. Francis is short and thin, and has a flawless and ageless face.

Despite all this Francis has a strange allure. The fact that when I first meet her I was fifteen may have something to do with this. Titania had left me with several women of the white court persuasion. Most of them were completely indifferent to me until they found out I was a virgin. Then a rather heated competition ensued.

Before you could say statuary rape, I was in bed with Francis. The next three day test my endurance, flexibility, and my mental fortitude. My endurance is the usual teenage level of exceptional. My flexibility was slightly better than average. And my mental fortitude was far greater, than Francis and Titania thought.

I returned home barely alive from dehydration, my back covered in scratch marks, and a smile that just wouldn't go away.

"Hey, Frankie," I said getting to my feet. "How's running a brothel treating you?"

"Id?" Francis said. The smile she gave me was the same a cat gives a canary. "You have grown so much, but that scar still looks terrible. We need to catch up with each other."

"Well, you look fairly busy with your arson," I said. I notice a few hairs stuck to my pants. They were the same color as the woman in the swings hair. I pretended to brush it off, palmed it, and put it in my coat pocket.

Putting my hand in my pocket caused a flurry of movement from the mooks. Suddenly no less than ten guns were pointed at me. I pulled my hand out slowly showing them that it was empty.

"Like he said, you look busy," Emma said. Her voice was a little higher than normal. She took a step forward, and the goons pointed the guns at her.

"How about you open the door," I said to Emma.

"Not here," she said back in a sing-song voice.

"Why not?" I said in the same sing-song voice.

Francis's smile widened. Truth be told our debating did look like a fish flopping about on the ground desperately searching for water. Mostly because that is exactly what it was.

"It leads to a bad place," she said still in the sing-song voice.

"Is it worse than here?" I asked. I decided to forgo the sing-song voice.

Emma slashed her arm and force open a door to the nevernever. I dove for the hole. Carman screamed as bullet started flying, and ran after me. Bullets slammed into me. Like I said before, my troll-skin coat is like a suit of armor. I lined it with some steel anti-shark armor for further protection, same with my cap. I held my up to protect my face. Every bullet that hit me felt like a blow from an angry man with a ball hammer.

* * *

><p>We landed on a smooth and polished wood floor. The room was dark. The goons chased after us. I sensed a flurry of movement and then heard a burst of noise. A big band song straight out of the roaring twenties rattled my ears. The light came on and I saw that we were surrounded by people, who all started dancing.<p>

Before I could curse and piss myself I felt my body begin to move to the beat as well. I grabbed Carman's hand. I made a grab at Emma's but she was gone to the goons. I tried to gather power, but the music and the movement made it impossible. All of us even the mooks started dancing. I am an okay dancer at the very best of times. At that moment in that room, I never missed a step, neither did Carman.

I saw the band, and with every ounce of my will I forced us to inch toward the band. The drums pounded in a rhythmic, yet impromptu way that I felt as much as heard. The horns sang in an almost forcefully joyous way. The strings on the basses were pulled in a frantic tempo I wouldn't have believed possible.

I scanned the room and I danced still faster. Carman looked about ready to completely crack. Tears were rolling down her cheeks, and the knuckles of her hands were turning almost marble white.

I saw who I was looking for, a man that looked to be in his mid-fifties, but still vital, dancing alone. His thick grey hair and beard were short. He wore a suit straight out of any mob movie ever. His eyes were the thing that had my attention though. They were jet black, with glowing orange slits for pupils.

I focused still harder on moving towards him.

He saw me and suddenly moving closer was not a matter I had a choice in. My feet carried me to him in a magnificently choreographed way. When I was just out of arms reach Carman and I started dancing again.

"Id!" he boomed over the music. "How the hell are you lad?"

"Not too bad," I said knowing I had to choose my words wisely. "Apparently I am intruding on your territory."

"Nonsense," he boomed again. He smiled revealing jaguar like teeth. "You are just in time for dinner. Hah-ah!"

"That is the thing," I said. "I would like it if my friends and I could leave before that. We would hate to intrude on the Lord of the Dance's meals."

The Lord of the Dance is a member of the wild fae. Most wild fae are wild because they are so weak that the summer and winter courts have no use for them. Some like this guy are wild because they have the power, and the lack of political drives to tell the Courts to piss off. If I had to guess, he was maybe a firecracker worth the bang less powerful that Mab or Titania.

"Give me one reason that I shouldn't show you the same hospitality I show all of my guests," he asked. "You wouldn't happen to be poisonous would you? Hah-ah!"

"Because I brought you a gift," I said. I managed to point at the wall of terrified looking mooks. They were still dancing, but they were also shouting to each other. From the looks on their faces they had not been clued into the supernatural world. Poor stupid bastards.

The Lord of the Dance stopped dancing. "Look at all of that meat. They would make a great stew with potatoes, carrots, onions, and maybe mushrooms. Do you think mushrooms would be a good idea?"

"Splurge man," I said. "Maybe some pepper?" I twirled Carman.

"You're feeding people to this monster?" Carman asked. The look on her face told me two things. One she was terrified and two I wasn't going to get laid tonight.

"Yes," the Lord of the Dance and I said at the same time.

"You also have to let the girl in grey go too," I told him.

"Great arse on her," he said. "Deal. Now let's dance!"

He waltzed over to Emma and brought her over to us.

Emma looked quite on edge as well. "Id, are we going to die first or last?"

"You're going to die lass," the Lord of the Dance boomed, "but you aren't going to die here. Besides you're not mine to eat." He twirled her. "Did I mention you have a great arse?"

"Three times," Emma said.

We danced, and danced, and danced. It took hours and hours, and the Lord of the Dance ate of few of his other guest. Carman was starting to crack and stumble here and there. I did my best to keep her on her feet. Falling had to have a consequence.

"Let's end this," the Lord of the Dance said with a devilish grin.

* * *

><p>I landed face first onto the rocky desert ground. It was cold, and the rocks were sharp. Emma fell on the ground on my left. Carman fell on the ground to my right. She let out a shriek of pain. I turned. She actually landed on a cactus. Better her than me, I guess.<p>

I heard a hiss in front of me. a spikey lizard was there. It puffed up angrily. I puffed my cheeks and scowled. The lizard shriveled and skittered away. I got to my feet. I helped Carman to her feet.

"Don't touch me," She shrieked.

"Sorry," I said in a way that made it clear I was not.

"Why are you being bitchy?" Emma asked.

"He feed those people to that thing," Carman shouted. "He killed them, and joked about it. He is a psychopath."

"Is that how you got us out of there?" Emma asked. "Nice."

Carmen stared at us in disbelief. "You are both terrible people."

"Jokes, on you lady," Emma said. She patted Carman on the shoulder. "I don't think he is human."

"You're one to talk." I said.

Emma's gaze turned icy. "I'm human!" she said angrily.

"So where are we?" I asked no one in particular.

"Middle of nowhere in the California desert," Emma said.

"What?" Carman almost shouted.

I leaned in close to Emma. "I'm adjusting her score to 8.9" I said.

Emma chortled. "So, what is the next move on the investigation?"

"Oh shit, we're supposed to be investigating those murders," I said.

I checked and the hairs were okay. In the hands of any halfway competent wizard these could be used to determine what kind of magic was used, and a truly gifted one could find the source of the magic.

I am neither of those things. In the magic world most would call me a thug. Those that truly know me, call me a grand master in combat magic. When it comes to the subtle magics, like divination… well the short answer is I can't do it. I understand the theories, and can do all the leg work for any ritual. I just can't do it. Same thing with water magic. It is a mental block of some kind, and I have no idea how to fix it.

I needed someone who could do those things. They also needed to not have any problems working outside the laws of magic. That was a very short list. I didn't want to involve any of the other attack dogs. Those guys are fucking crazy.

That left one person.

"I need to call someone else in," I said. "Someone that can divinate? Something"

"Divine," Emma said. "Who? Lita?"

"No," I said. "You're not going to like it."

I gathered my power and shouted out a name, a full name, a true name. he would here the call no matter where he was on earth. The only question was whether or not he would answer back. Okay two questions, the second was whether he would try and kill us.

* * *

><p>Three hours later someone showed up. The person was not who I expected. I was expecting a he. Instead a young woman in a blue hood and cape appeared. Her hair was blue too, and cut in a way I was pretty sure was only possible in Japanese cartoons. She had the build of a gymnast and the eyes of a soldier. She wore a skin tight shirt that left her midriff exposed, and equally tight shorts<p>

In her right hand she held a metal bow staff. The staff was carved with runes that glowed with arcane energy, but I could hardly sense any.

She stood there staring at me. Her eyes burned with fury.

After a solid minute passed I broke the silence.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"That is not important," she said her voice determined. "I'm her to kill you."

She jumped into the air. At least fifty feet. I felt power gather around her.

Holy shit! A magic assassin.

* * *

><p><em>Well that is chapter three. Thanks for reading this far. I would really appreciate it if you took the time to review it as well. Love it or hate it, I just want to hear feedback. <em>


	4. Chapter 4

_Hello again single reader. A couple of quick things, I do not own the Dresden Files, or the RPG. Those belong to Jim Butcher. He is just cool enough to let people like me play in his world._

* * *

><p>Id Finds a Friend? Chapter 4<p>

The magic assassin came down like a meteor. I dodge to the right just in time. I landed face first on the cactus, of course. That metal bow staff hit the ground with enough force to leave a crater that was three feet in diameter. Rocks pelted me and dust flew into the air.

I rolled and knocked Carmen off her feet. She let out another ear piercing screech. She hit the ground and flailed about, still screaming.

I rolled to my feet.

I gathered my power to me in the most menacing way possible. Heat radiated from me, and cold night air grew colder. Anyone could sense the power, and anyone smart would be afraid of it. The sand around me began to melt.

"If you have a brain in your head you will-" I said.

Before I could finish the assassin shouted "Vector!" a small amount of energy shot at me with a speed that made bullets look like a fat kid chasing an ice cream truck. The spell hit me in the chest. I realized two important facts. The first was that while that was less than fifty pounds of force, it was in an area roughly ten centimeters by one nanometer. That is 322,581,290 psi for those of you, who are math disenfranchised.

The human body is nowhere near tough enough to handle that. The spell tore through my coat that stopped bullets, cut through the steel mesh that stopped angry Fae and slammed into the magic Promethean steel plate. I was knocked on my ass.

That hurt, which was good. If it didn't hurt, it would have killed me. The assassin charged me again raising the bow staff. In one surprisingly fluid motion, I rolled back ward, landed on my feet, sidestepped the head cracking blow from the bow staff and kicked the assassin between the legs as hard as I could.

A surprisingly large number of people believe that getting kicked in the groin doesn't hurt a woman. The fact of the matter is that the groin is one of the most sensitive parts of the human body and that amount of force hurts regardless of where it hits.

The assassin doubled over in pain and gasped several angry four-letter words. I grabbed the metal bow staff and put my foot to the assassin's head. She rolled with the impact. She was on her feet almost instantly. She glared at me.

"Give that back," she said.

"Nah," I said. "I am utterly useless with these kinds of weapons, but I'm not giving it back."

She started circling me. I moved in response. We circled each other for a while. That kick hadn't done the damage I was hoping for. We circled each other again.

I smirked, and did my best not to laugh.

"What is so funny?" the assassin demanded.

"The way you dress more than anything," I said.

To my surprise she paused, "What the hell is wrong with the way I dress?" her tone changed from absolute determination to purposely defiant. I had found a sore spot. Sore spots are meant to be prodded.

My smile widened. "Nothing, but it would be a lot better if you were actually wearing any."

"You… you," She sputtered. Her face reddened.

I stopped circling. How had that invoked this response? Don't get me wrong it was what I was hoping for, but it was an order of magnitude more than I expected.

"God! I hate you!" She almost shouted at me. If I didn't know any better I bet this was one of the many dysfunctional conversations she had with her father, until she put two slugs in his head and dumped him in a lake in New Jersey.

"I'm fairly ambivalent towards you," I said. I decided to keep pushing. "Don't get me wrong, I kind of like your lack of mystery approach."

Her expression went from anger to complete shock. "Are you hitting on me?" She asked as she paled.

Seriously what the hell is wrong with her?

"Sort of," I said. I'm also man enough to admit that I leered as opposed to smiled at her. "How about we take that lack of clothes of yours and go back to my place for some angry…"

"Stop talking!" she shouted. "Vector!"

The spell shot at me. This is exactly what I had been waiting for. The spell had almost no power to it, but it was focused to the point of insanity. That being said it was still a low powered spell. It could be overcome with another spell. All the other spell had to do was match it in strength. Think of it this way, she had a sword that was sharpened beyond reason, and I had a three foot long two in diameter chunk of rebar. Guess which one breaks first in real life.

"Ignitus," I said casually. I only used about half the energy I normally use for a spell. The spells collided and a ball of fire exploded between us.

"Is that all you got," I taunted.

"Vector!" she shouted again.

The spell was a fairly potent one this time, and I could see that it had cost her to cast it. It still wasn't anywhere near enough.

"Ignitus!" I roared back. This time I fed more power than was necessary into the spell on purpose. A pillar of fire that burned at 1600 kelvin erupted between us. With the roar of a bomb, the world turned momentarily silent save for the constant ringing. I spared a glance back to Carmen and Emma. Carmen appeared to still be screaming, Emma was using Carmen as a make shift shield as she pulled them both to the ground.

The air grew frigid. I watched steam rise from my body. This wasn't so much because I was hot, but because the air was that cold. My breath was as visible as if I was smoking. That gave me an idea. I pulled out a cigar and lit up, "Ignitus."

The assassin was slightly scorched and blistered. Mostly first degree burns, nothing to worry about, but very painful. The determination had left her eyes, and the faintest twinkle of doubt had crept in to replace it. Steam was rising from her as well, but she shivered in the cold.

"Someone is cold," I said with no real tone other than my normal obnoxiousness self. I didn't look at her eyes.

"tri-vector!" the assassin shrieked.

Again this was less power than I put into my normal spells. I just was too busy playing around being insulting.

I used the bow staff as a shield. The spell cut through it like a hot knife through a squealers tongue, or however that saying goes. Lucky for me this was a focus item, an item of magical power. The energy released and deflected the spell. Instead of hitting me in the face the spell hit my coat, and sliced through the top of both shoulders. My coat slide of me and the chill of the night bit into my flesh

"Why do you call that spell tri-vector?" I asked spinning the two chunks of the bow staff around. I wasn't playing around anymore the instant she gathered power I was going to blast her with as big of a spell as I could must. I didn't care if I had to burn ninety percent of my body to do it. My shirt fell off of me and the last little thread holding it together broke and the front half of my cigar fell off.

She stared at me in dumbfounded anger. She shook her head and closed her eyes tightly. She opened her eyes. "You have the most bullshit luck of anyone I have ever met.

"Oh, just screw already!" Emma shouted. The assassin and I both turned. Emma was sitting up behind her Carmen-shield. Her eyes widened then she said, "Any time Lita, you bitch!"

I turned just in time to see Lita cold cock the assassin. The assassin flew four feet through the air before landing on the cactus that I had landed on. Seriously, what is up with that?

I have been in knockdown, drag-out fights with Lita before. We have a complex relationship at the best of times, and it is a battlefield at other times. At time like this, it really is nice to have a front-line soldier watching my back.

"Hey Id," she said with a smile. She kicked at the assassin. Her foot came down and the ground shook slightly. "I'll take care of this." She grabbed the assassin and with that right hook that I knew so well she knocked the assassin the fuck out.

"Well that is just charming," Kendall said. He was standing next to me. His long black robes and drum were gone. He was wearing a black suit with a bowler hat. His gray hair looked to be better kept than the last time he I saw him. His dark face was still slightly bruised, but it was wrinkled instead of swollen. He gazed at me sternly, with a certain presence that I probably never could pull off. He gripped his cane a little tighter. The runes glowed with a dark violet light. In his other hand he held a large leather bound case.

"You bring stuff for a divination," I asked.

His face set further into a stony look, "How is this going to work?"

"What do you mean," I asked. I had thought my message was quite clear.

"Are you going to keep exploiting me for your own ends until the end of time?" he demanded. "Or do you think you can hold my position in the White Council against me forever?"

That was way better than my current plan. It consisted of call Kendall, ask him to help… profit. Blackmail is much easier. Plus, I could play to his twisted morals and maybe get this as a freebie.

"I just figured you would love the chance to take out someone that has been killing people with magic."

"I'm not a fan of the Laws," Kendall said. "And why are you involved in this?"

"Seventy dead," I said. "That sort of dispelled my apathy."

His eyes widened slightly. The runes stopped glowing on his staff. We both heard the sound of a trucks engine. Headlights hit us, and we all flinched. An old pickup was parked in front of us and a large man got out of it.

"Y'all alright?" he asked. He was wearing a Budweiser hat and a shirt with a flying saucer and the words:_ I believe_ written on it. "I thought I saw lights. Y'all lost?"

I saw my chance and went with it. "Thank God! You saved us!"

"What?" he asked. His expression went from concerned to confused.

"This is going to come off as a shock," I said. I hesitated for effect, "We were all abducted by aliens."

* * *

><p>That turned out to be the best lie I ever told. Hank got us to civilization, and said he would get the assassin to a hospital. Before you think that was nice of me, I was convinced that she had no I.D., was in this country illegally, and was just young enough that social services would get called in.<p>

Bringing in a mortal government of any kind into a wizard's affairs is the political equivalent to nuking another country. It results in massive fallout and the diplomatic chunk of your relationship is over. I figure having her picture on the back of milk cartons would be an inconvenience.

Hank had also given me a few things. Twenty bucks to get some food for us. He also gave me a shirt to wear. It was flannel and comfy. I can honestly say that this was the best shirt I have ever had.

We stood at the truck stop. Kendall watch Hank drive away. "Very generous man."

"Why didn't I just go with him?" Carmen mused aloud. She paled and her eyes went wide. "Why the hell didn't I go with him?"

Emma patted Carmen on the shoulder, "Shh, no one cares."

"I'd do him," Lita said. All of us looked at her. She shrugged. "I like his accent."

Kendall decided it was time to focus on business, "Do you have anything I can use to find these people?"

I pulled the hairs out of my pocket. "This should still have the energy in it."

Kendall took the hairs and put them in a small glass vial. "It would be best to go to one of my labs."

"Sounds like a plan," I said.

"Swear to me on your power that you will not reveal its location," he said. He looked around at us. "All of you."

I was raised by the fae. The fact that I am perfectly capable of lying is strange to them. While they had done nothing but encourage that I use this gift on anyone that isn't in my family, I have always held a promise with a certain reverence that most people do not. When I give my word, I would die to keep it. That is why I am very careful about making promises.

"I swear I will not tell the White Council about this location," I said.

Moving to the undisclosed location that I'm not telling where it is. We entered a hidden room that was cleverly hidden under a throw rug under a grand piano. I realized that Kendall is richer than I am.

His lab was a huge room that had a large set of maps made of steel plates. He pulled out a map of the globe. He turned to me. "Let's see what you can do." He handed me one of the hairs.

Divination magic is one of the many types of magic that I just can't do. I knew the theory. I needed a source to track with, the hair, a focus, the map, and the vision. That was the problem. My understanding of the movement of energy is tantamount to who I am. The concept of pulling information out of my power and a chunk of a person… there was a missing step in my mind.

I tied the hair into a circle and placed my fingers inside of the circle. I placed my fingers on the plate. I gathered the energy. I thought of finding the source of the magic in the hair. I thought for a long time, at least five minutes. I broke the circle and said "Dianaus."

Words of magic need to mean something and need to be something you don't say in every day conversation. I sort of cheat with that last part. I find a word or uncommon name that has an attached meaning and add the letters –us to the end. Diana is the Greek goddess of the hunt. She also is surprisingly nice.

The strand of hair broke with a crackle of energy. For the briefest of moment's parts of the map lit up. Lots of tiny little stars of energy glitters red, then a large bang a blast of force knocked me on my ass.

Kendall chuckled quietly then said, "You set everything up right. You did everything right. The only possible problem could be your mind. You are blocking your own potential. You are forcing yourself to be crude and sloppy."

"Quick question," I said getting to my feet. "Why do you care?"

"I have my reasons," he said. He took another hair and did the spell I had failed to do. The plate lit up with a large amount of purple stars. We looked at them and thought.

"That is a lot of places for the source to be," I said.

"How could that happen?" Kendall asked. He looked like he had an idea, but wanted to hear my opinion.

"Multiple sources," I said thinking aloud.

"What would that mean," Kendall encouraged.

"A mass ritual involving dozens of casters," I said. I was reaching the point of conjecture. I counted the dots. "Sixty-eight casters?"

"Not quite," Kendall said. "If I had to guess, which I don't, I would say each of those is a ritual location."

"Each of these rituals cost sixty-nine lives," I said, "unless this has been going on for the better part of two centuries. Shit, I thought it was someone taking a shot at the White Court's power structure or connections, but this was the White Court. Sixty-eight rituals, sixty-nine to a ritual that is 4692 lives worth the juice."

Kendall and I both shuttered. That kind of power was beyond my understanding. One of those rituals could turn a White Court vampire into a force of nature. Yet all that power was still held there. It was just waiting to be used. If all of that power was put into one person or turned against any political faction… that would be it.

"Do you have any sources you can get information out of?" Kendall asked with a hint fear in his voice.

"Francis is the owner of the club the last ritual was in," I said.

"Do you have anything to track her with?" Kendall asked.

"No," I said. "Wait police reports!"

"What?" Kendall asked. He raised an eyebrow.

"They burned down her club. " I said feeling a brief glimmer of hope. "We find a cop, we get the files, we get an address and burn anything that gets in our way."

"You follow up on that," Kendall said. "I'm going to check with some acquaintances down below to see if I can get some extra information."

"We meet back here if we find anything, or in ten hours," I said.

"God help us if we are too slow," he said. He started gathering things off of the shelves.

* * *

><p>I made my way upstairs and found this scene. Carmen was screaming at the top of her voice crying her eyes out. She was shouting at Emma. Emma was shouting back. I was impressed by just how red her face could get.<p>

"You ruined my life!" Carmen screamed. "Do you have any idea how much money I was making?"

"Do I look like a give a shit!" Emma shouted back. "You did the right thing and it bit you in the ass! Why are you so special that it should matter?"

Carmen was taken aback by this, "Why are you doing this then?"

"Sixteen dollars an hour!" Emma shouted.

Lita sat on the couch watching. I walked up to her and was completely ignored by Emma and Carmen. Their argument was rapidly reaching the point of name calling and hair pulling.

"How long have they been at it?" I asked Lita.

"Since you and Kendall went into the hidey-hole," Lita said. "Emma is pissed off that you called the necromancer that is hunting her in on this SNAFU, and Carmen is flipping her lid because you and Emma have ruined her life and she is soon to be screwed to death by the White Court. Add a few hunky guys and some borderline soft-core and you could have a great soap opera."

That is when I did the stupidest thing I have ever done since taking three-eye. I intervened.

"Ladies you're both pretty," I said. "Can we just move on?"

"YOU!" Carmen said. She pointed a finger at me and almost charged me. "You are the worst person I have ever met. You got those people killed. You got me burned by the White Court, and you are still staring at my tits!"

"Hello soap opera," Lita said.

"You shouldn't hold things in like that," I said. "Tell me what you really think."

"One more word and I am going to kick your ass!" She screamed.

"One more word," I said.

She took a swing at me. I stepped to the side. She punched the brick wall. She dropped to her knees clutching her hand.

"Violence doesn't solve problems," I said.

She started muttering darkly in Spanish.

I kneeled next to her, "listen. You fucked up. You trusted the White Council. They leave people like us to die. Now you are at a crossroads. You can go out into that big scary world all on your own, and you'll probably be dead within two days. That is door number one."

She looked up at me. "What is door number two?"

"Oh there are way more than two roads," I said. "You can run to the Fae, and they will probably enslave you in a one sided deal. You could go to some demons and it would probably torture you to death for your trouble. You could go to the church," I continued and tapped her crucifix, "and they would probably screen you from harm in some convent on the ass end of the world. You could even go get a gun and blow your brains out. You have options galore, but there is one option I don't think you considered."

Carmen had started crying again, "W-what is that?" she asked.

"You stick with us," I said. She laughed ruefully. I smiled, "Let me finish. You stick with us, we draw the bullets, we stop the White Court, we save the day and we double bill the ever loving shit of the White Council. If you play this right the White Court will be too busy seeking vengeance on the rest of us to even care about you."

Truth be told I just didn't want to her wandering about. Loose ends unravel everything. Plus having her around is a lot like having a beautiful painting in your office. A beautiful painting that is constantly screaming. Good thing I can tune that out.

"Okay," Carmen said.

"And to commercial we go," Lita said. She got up and opened the door to Kendall's lab. "Hey! Necrophile, you doing anything cool?"

A large explosive rocked the building. A scream that sounded a lot like an orangutan was quickly followed by Kendall shouting his German-sounding spells.

Lita closed the door, "He says we should buzz off. What's the plan Id?"

"We need to break into the police station and steal the file on the fire at the club," I said.

"Great plan, but the files will be on a computer," Carmen said. "If you get within a mile of a computer it is going to fry."

"What do we do then?" I asked.

"Lita and I can go and steal it," Emma said. She shot me a look. "You keep an eye on your new necromancer friend."

"Are you mad at me?" I asked.

Emma shrugged, "Sadly you are in my top ten employers."

They left and I almost immediately went stir crazy. I needed to walk. I never was good at staying in one place for long. I opened the door and went out into the street.

"Where are you going?" Carmen shouted from the door way.

"That way," I said. I didn't look back.

* * *

><p>I found a park on the west coast pretty quickly. I sat down on a bench and watched the sea. I pulled a piece of wood and a knife out of my pocket. I slowly started cutting tiny flecks off of the wood. I am not an artist. I just like to make things, sculptures and statues and anything with Legos. I had started this to improve the dexterity in my right hand. Over the years it had become a hobby.<p>

"That is beautiful," an old man said as he sat down on the park bench next to me. He was wearing khaki pants, a blue shirt, and a grey sweater vest. His eyes were grey and friendly. His grey hair was thin and wispy. He smiled, "is she someone special?"

I looked at what I have carved. It was easily my best work. It was a small statuette carving of Emma. The details of her face were perfect. "Just a girl I met recently," I said.

The old man chuckled. "In my experience you don't remember every detail of 'just a girl you met recently.' Come on what is she too you?"

"I think we can help each other," I said. I put the statuette on the bench. "Only thing is I have no idea what her problem is, and I could talk your ear off with my problems."

"So you plan to take care of her and protect her until you figure your problems out?" he asked. He pulled a bag of bird seed out of his pocket. He threw it on the ground in front of us and birds flocked to us. "I had a similar deal with a girl when I was your age, we called it marriage."

I laughed, "I don't ever plan to get married."

"Everyone should get married," he said. "If you have a good wife, life will be bliss. If you have a bad wife, you can be a philosopher."

"How did that work out for you?" I asked.

"She died," he said. His eyes looked tired, "fifty years of happiness. Sometimes it seems like the blink of an eye. She was the one good thing that happened to me. Husbands aren't supposed to outlive their wives."

"Do those years of happiness outweigh this?" I asked.

He thought for a moment. "At first I fought it, the fact that she was gone. I did a lot of stupid things. I would have made a deal with the devil himself to get her back, but now I realize you have to let them go. Focus on the here and now."

"That is really deep Kemmler," I said.

He laughed. "What tipped you off?"

"The fact that you are swinging enough necromantic mojo to take out every person on this coast was my first clue," I said. "Tell me did she come back right or was she all zombified?"

"Careful Id," he said. His friendly eye had gone cold. It reminded me of the water in the Arctic Circle. "I came to talk to you courteously. Do not take this to an ugly place."

"Or you'll what?" I asked. "Torture me? Cause I have news for you there isn't a pain on this earth that can make me flinch. You going to kill my family? Good luck finding them. How about hurting my friends? News flash, I don't have any. What do you got Kemmler?"

"This," he said. With a spark of power he paralyzed me. He held my face close to his and our eyes met.

The first thing I realized is just how much this was going to hurt the both of us. I was in the center of a black void, a great emptiness. Kemmler was just how I suspect I was. He was empty, and he had nothing to lose. There was nothing he would not do. There was nothing he would let stand in his way. His power was as vast as this void. He was a force beyond nature, and as powerful as I was he could snuff me out like I could the flame of a candle.

The soulgaze ended and my head throbbed. I felt liquid rolling down my cheeks. At first I thought I was crying, but judging by how the hand I used to wipe it away was stained red, I guessed I had blown several vessels in my eyes. I felt shaken but I refused to let it show. I stared at Kemmler evenly.

Kemmler was completely unimpressed with me. He was the first to ever shake off a soul gaze with me. I saw an opportunity.

"Just out of curiosity," I said my voice was it normal obnoxiously taunting tone. "What did you see?"

"I saw what you are, what you could be and what you were," Kemmler said. He stood up. "Watch over the girl for now. When the day comes, you won't be able to stop me." Then he was gone. He disappeared into the nevernever. He didn't conjure a veil. He didn't even drink a potion. He was just gone.

* * *

><p>I made my way back to Kendall's house. In the time it took for me to get back the pain form the soulgaze had faded. I opened the door and sat down in a comfy lounge chair. That is when I let it all hit me. It was hard to describe but the pain reached the point that I thought my head was going to explode. Rather than sharpen, my vision blurred. Blood poured from my mouth and eyes as I doubled over.<p>

Carmen started screaming again, or did she just never stop. After about an hour the bleeding stopped. After another twenty minutes I was able to sit vertical again. I felt the rattling of nerves in my head. I wasn't burnt out, but I wasn't going to be throwing the big spells around for a while. This rattle was going to last for months.

"What the hell happened to you?" Carmen asked.

"I looked into the abyss," I said.

"And you're bleeding profusely because…?" she asked.

"The abyss looked back," I said. I pulled out a cigar and lit up. Another crash came from Kendall's Lab.

"Bloody monkey!" he shouted.

Carmen said something and the blood collected itself into a small sphere of red. It bounced into a cloth she had, and then she dropped it down the drain of the sink. She walked back over to me. She tilted my head back and held a finger in front of me. "Follow this with your eyes." She said.

I followed her finger with my eyes. That made the rattle change ever so slightly. "What are you trying to figure out?" I asked.

"I'm trying to figure out if you're dying," Carmen said. "Do you usually run cold?"

"Yep," I said.

"You do know why I'm angry, right?" Carmen asked.

"The fiery nature of your people?" I asked.

Carmen bopped me on the head with a loose fist, "I'm mad because, I am being punished for doing the right thing. I just wanted to make sure that what happened in that club never happened again. And they send you. Have you ever done anything good just to do something good? Have you ever been truly close to someone?"

Between the rattle and her words something triggered.

_She was never all that close after that._

* * *

><p>The door opened. My trance broke. Emma and Lita walked in. Lita was wearing a Leather bustier, black panties, skyscraper heeled boots, and a smile. Emma was wearing her normal clothes and had a piece of paper.<p>

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to distract Vegas cops?" Lita asked. "I mean they have seen practically everything. I had to bust out the Tommy gun and the dynamite attached to an alarm clock before they even raised an eyebrow. Also S.W.A.T. has terrible response time when they need to get to their own police station."

Emma pulled me aside, as Lita told the rest of the story of their wacky adventure to Carmen. Emma tried to squeeze my arm hard enough to hurt, but she was squeezing my right arm. Joke's on her.

"If you ever leave me alone with that crazy bitch again," Emma said.

"Taking Lita with you was your idea," I said.

"Oh, no you don't" Emma said. "You do not get to bring logic into this, not after the afternoon I just had. All I needed her to do was watch the door. She said she might have to seduce someone, so I let her get that," she waved a Lita, "Then she bust out a Tommy gun and starts shooting up the place."

"Yeah," I said with a smile. "You gotta love it when she does something crazy that doesn't hurt you."

"Do you want the address or not?" Emma demanded.

* * *

><p>I stood outside Francis's house and stared. We were in the suburbs of Vegas. The house was neither large nor small. It was rose colored and looked kind of like a brick. The yard looked like the desert and a Zen garden had collided. The ground was raked into the waved pattern around the rocks and the few cacti in the yard.<p>

"What is the plan?" Emma asked.

"We go in there, we knock her into the nevernever and then we beat the answers out of her." I said. I walked up to the door and knocked.

"That's a chick?" Emma asked.

Francis opened the door. "What are you doing here?" She demanded.

"I need to ask you a few questions," I said. I smiled. "Can we come in?"

"Now is really not a good time," Francis said. She tried to close the door.

Emma and I both slammed into the door. Our combined weight was enough to snap the piece of shit chain and knock Francis back. We all landed in a pile. The next three minutes were a mess of flailing limbs and shouted curses.

We heard something that brought us all to a halt. The sound of a shotgun ratcheting. I looked up and saw Laura Raith. Laura is high up there in the White Court. She is tall and curvaceous. She has long black hair that is always perfect. She had obtained a beauty that made supermodels cry. She was wearing a business suit that she somehow managed to seem stripper-ific, and black gloves.

_He had left a mark on her. It never faded. She was still her, but not the same. _

I held my knife to Francis's throat, "I will kill her." I said

Laura smiled, "Good." She leveled the barrel.

* * *

><p><em>That was Chapter 4. I hope you liked it. As far as I can tell, about fifteen people have read chapter three. If you have made it this far, is it really all that big of a waste of time to review it. I am writing this in the hope of getting better at writing, and feedback is the quickest way for me to improve. Negative or positive I would to here you thoughts.<em>

_Thanks you for your time, and thanks for sticking with me this long._


	5. Chapter 5

Id Finds a Friend? Chapter 5

Hello again single reader (if you have returned.) Fist things first I do not own the Dresden Files or any of it's characters. those belong to Jim Butcher, who is nice enough to let people play in his world.

This story is based off of the RPG, and is rated M for a reason.

* * *

><p>I looked to Lara and then to Francis. Emma adjusted her position so I was between her and the shotgun. Lara considered us for a long moment. She looked at me expectantly. I looked back at her, clueless.<p>

"Well?" Lara asked.

"Well, what?" I asked. I kept my eyes on her trigger finger.

She smiled. "Where is your legendary sharp tongue? I thought I was going to get to listen to some witty banter, before this was over."

"I can give you something better than banter," I said grinning. I gathered my power, and realized two troublesome facts. The first was that this house had a threshold, a potent one too. Thresholds sort of just stop magic from working. It just subtracts from anyone's power. Strong thresholds can turn a wizard into little more than a normal man, until you invite them in. The second was that her gun was an older military model specifically designed not to jam. Magic screws with technology, but significantly robust technology just doesn't care.

"I sincerely doubt that," Lara said. She raised the gun.

"Just like a woman," I said

"What?" Everyone else in the room demanded. Everybody has buttons. I honestly do believe it is my purpose in life to push them. "Every time a guy tries to start something magical with a lady, she has to shove him through a wall." I said.

Lara raised an eyebrow. "What?"

I shouted, "Cassidius!" and threw an almost pathetic ball of red hot fire at Lara. It probably wouldn't have even caused a third degree burn, but it was still enough of a distraction to fit my purposes.

Francis had cracked my code. Her eye shown with silver light and with strength beyond human might she slammed me through the nearby wall. Emma being quick on her feet managed to dive through the hole. I saw pellets bouncing off her coat as the shotgun roared.

Three more blast erupted from the shotgun. I ducked my head. My flannel shirt was on fire and burned away quickly. Now I was pissed.

"Invite me in," I growled at Francis.

"Swear you will protect me, and I'll invite you in," she said. Her androgynous face was set.

"I swear I will do what I can to keep you alive for the next five hours," I said.

"Come on in you burnt bastard," Francis said. She ripped a floorboard up. Underneath was a metal box of some kind. The gun fire stopped.

"Hey Lara," I called out. I rolled across the floor and gathered my power to me.

"What now Id?" she asked. I heard the faint click of shells being loaded into the shotgun. "You have anything fun to say?"

"One word," I said. I twirled the metal bo staff fragment in my hand. If anything it would make a great whooping stick. I dove out of the hole in the wall. Lara had guessed that I wouldn't do that. I pointed the staff at her. It felt familiar in my hand. I ran power through the gauntlet on my right hand, and the power focused through the fragment of the bo staff.

This was troubling on several levels. The first was that this focus item was broken and really shouldn't have been working. Next, there was the issue of this not being one of my focus items. The only way my power could be focused through it was that it was constructed with almost the same outlook on magic that I had. This is a rather tremendous deal. No two people see magic in the exact same light. The last was the feeling of familiarity. I had never seen this before, it should have felt alien.

None of that mattered as Lara aimed the shotgun at me. I decided to take a leaf out of the assassin's book. "Convectus!" I shouted. A thin and extremely hot swath of air shot at the shotgun. It split the gun in half and left a nasty nick in Lara's arm.

She threw the chunks at me. I dodged the first one. The second collided with my right shoulder. With a crack that I felt as much as heard my arm popped out of joint. That was a problem; my right arm is the one I use to cast spells. No movement means no aim, which means Lara was about to beat six shades of shit out of me.

Lara charged me with a hatchet in hand. I stepped into the blow and took the hatchet to the chest plate. The weapon bounced off the plate but I felt my ribs under it crack. The hatchet swung up and just missed my neck.

I made a grab at her arm. I seized her at the wrist and she pulled free. The sleeve of her thousand dollar suit stayed in my hand. She swung at me again. I side stepped, and seized her arm again. A sizzling sound filled the air. Lara shrieked in pain. She flung herself backward away from me. She slammed into the wall. Lara stared at me eyes wide and wild. I stared at her eye wide and struck dumb.

That is the moment my sight decided to open. My mind was already rattling with the sight open it was sure to start cracking. I saw Lara for what she truly was. Besides see her true name, which I am not going to tell you, I saw a great spider before me. From her many hands were even more numerous threads. She pulled and twisted these threads to her designs. She controlled almost all she saw, but what she didn't see were the few threads attached to her that someone else pulled.

I thought this was going to hit me harder than it did. Maybe I was just better prepared for it than I thought. Maybe she was just not that impressive compared to Kemmeler. Maybe I was protected by an impossible force that just couldn't be.

White Court vampires of the Raith clan, like Lara, are hurt by the very concept of love. Someone who has loved and been loved in the physical sense, are the bane of Clan Raith. They live on lust, and love is the metaphysically pure version of it. The very idea of me having this boon is completely laughable.

"You are just full of surprises," Lara cooed. "Are you just surrounded by super-heated air?" I spotted the hatchet on the ground. Lara's eyes follow mine. She smiled again, "You weren't thinking of giving me the ax, were you?"

"I have thoughts of giving you all sorts of things," I said. I managed to shift the bo staff fragment into my left hand.

"Did I hurt you?" Lara asked. Her smile widened.

"Don't worry my little spider," I said grinning back, "I've had worse from angrier women."

I saw Emma skulking up behind Lara. Under my empowered gaze she looked almost as she appeared when I first met her. She was covered in thousands of tiny injures and bruises. The unmarked parts of her skin were wan and sickly looking. Her thin body was now emaciated. Let's not forget the black handprint. It was over her heart, the core of her being.

I forced myself to not look at her, partly so I wouldn't tip Lara off but that wasn't the only reason. I twisted my right arm on purpose. This hurt, and gave me a pang of heighted focus. The crackling in my head fade to static, the colors of the world brightened to normal levels, and my teeth clenched to just under the point of talking.

"Spider am I?" Lara asked in honeyed tone. "Does that make you the fly?" it struck me just how beautiful she truly was. I have always admired beauty, and I find it with considerable frequency, but Lara was something completely different.

"I can be many things," I said smiling, "But a fly isn't one of them."

"Pity," Lara cooed taking a step towards me, "If I am the spider and you were the fly I could have tied you up in my web."

"I don't think spiders like being in the web," I said. I knew what was happening, but at the same time I didn't mind. It was strange, but not unpleasant. I was more concerned about my lack of concern than the fact that my mind was being influenced.

"Don't you mean the fly?" Lara asked.

Emma struck. She lunged with the knife. Lara sidestepped the blade. With a speed and grace that reminded me of an angel, she turned and threw Emma over herself at me in a fluid motion the held me dumbfounded. Emma collided with me. I didn't even think to dodge I was so swept up in Lara's beauty.

We crashed to the ground. Emma's head cracked against mine. I bit my tongue and blood flowed. I sat up in time to find Lara kneeling next to me.

"God your beautiful," I slurred with my thick tongue. The pain didn't bring clarity this time. Hell it hardly brought pain. Nothing mattered compared to the beauty that was before me.

Lara removed my cap and let it drop to the ground. Her silver eyes glistened enticingly. She seized me in powerful arms, and started to kiss me passionately. I felt fire and lighting. The world shook. Everything blurred. It was ecstasy. It was bliss. It was nirvana.

It was over way too quickly. The crackling had returned as a rattle that reminded me of a cinderblock in a dryer.

I felt the blade of a knife slide across my left arm. flesh parted and blood flowed. The cut was deep. Metal scraped across the bone and caught. Lara flung herself backward again, and the knife stayed caught. Her lips and tongue were blistered as were her arms. The knife she was just about to stick me with fell from her hand.

"How about we call truce?" I asked. I was battered and really didn't feel like fighting anymore. That strange beauty of Lara's had fade very slightly. My right arm still wouldn't move and that rattling in my head had reached deafening levels.

"What does that entail?" Lara asked. She looked better off than I probably did, but she was also running low on energy if I had to guess. When a vampire uses their powers, it is just like when a person exercises heavily, only more extreme. You need to rest, and you need to feed. Lara had tried to feed on me, and it turned out to be the same as licking a stove. Without sustenance she wouldn't be able to use her powers.

Emma scooped the hatchet off the ground. "You let us take Francis, and we let you walk away." She looked bruised, but far from beaten.

"Where is she by the way?" Lara asked.

That is when we all heard the sound of a large gun chamber a round. We all turned to see Francis with an AK-47. Francis leveled the gun at us.

Everyone froze and a horrible silence fell on the room. Silence is my worst enemy. It makes it next to impossible for me to infuriate people into making a fatal mistake.

"Shoot her Francis," I said.

"I figured I would just shoot you all," she said. She started firing. Fortunately she was not a great shot. The bullet flew high and to my right. One pinged off my metal armor.

All of us dove through the same hole that we had used to avoid Lara just a short time ago. I dove first Lara was right behind me and landed on me with all her petite weight. Emma jumped through the hole last. She landed on us, and with the combined weight I felt my shoulder pop back into place.

"Hot diggity daffodil!" I shouted. I stood up, moved a respectful distance from Emma and Lara, and pointed my finger at the ceiling "Volcanus!" I shouted. A pillar of fire that burned at nearly 2300 Kelvin erupted around me. This is hot enough to melt steel. It pretty much vaporized the ceiling above me and the walls in front of me. The air in the house expanded with explosive force. Every window in the house and surrounding block shattered. The roof lifted up and flew apart. The walls fell down away from me. the threshold that had protected the house vanished with the faintest release of energy.

As the air around us grew cold I stared at Francis. My pants and boot were enchanted to take this kind of heat. I had learned long ago it is very hard to be intimidating when you are flapping in the breeze, but after dealing with Lara was standing at attention. Not sure if that is more or less intimidating. Fires burned around us. I glared at Francis. Blood from my tongue leaked out of my mouth and down chin. Blood from my arm dripped off of the tips of my fingers.

Lara stood up.

I forced energy through chunk of bo staff. "Oculus!" I shouted. A circle of fire roared to life around her. "One more step and everything burns!"

Francis pointed the gun at me and pulled the trigger. The gun clicked. Magic doesn't like technology. Just being around me kills electronics. Throwing around the kind of magic I just did causes even a Model-T to stop dead.

I snapped my finger and hissed, "Ignitus!"the gun exploded with a blast that sent metal fragments flying. I watched as the metal tore into Francis's arms, torso, and face. I watched as the heat set fire to her clothes and blistered her skin. I watch as she instinctively jumped backwards. I watched her hit the ground shrieking. I watched her roll around desperate to put out the flames. I smiled as she laid still crying. I'm not a sadist, I just take an unhealthy satisfaction in the pain of people that try to kill me.

The flames died and she laid there bleeding. Her blood was more pink than red. She coughed and then said, "You said you would protect me."

"I said I would keep you alive for five hours," I said. "If you want to live past that time, you will come with me.

Lara threw a knife at me. Like most people with half a brain she comes into a fight with more than one weapon. I had lost focus as I am prone to do. The knife was going to hit me in the face. Time slowed down. I saw Emma tear a hole in reality. She dove through it and instantly another hole opened between me and the knife.

Emma appeared next to me holding the knife. "Your situational awareness is piss poor."

"you'll get seventeen dollars an hour if you can drop that sex goddess- bitch Lara," I said.

"Done," Emma said. She tore another hole in reality. She flung herself into it. Another tear appeared behind Lara. I waved good bye to the ivory goddess, and a hand pulled her into the portal. Emma dove out of a different portal a moment later and it snapped shut behind her.

"You could do that the whole time?" I demanded.

Theoretically a portal to the nevernever can be opened anywhere. This is very similar to the theory that atoms can be split anywhere. I would have been legitimately impressed with Emma's skill, but I would have been even more impressed if she had used it ten minutes sooner.

"I don't like doing it," Emma said. "It makes me feel… dirty." This was true on the metaphysical standpoint as well. The single black, hand print was now two. I thought hard. A took a few deep breathes, but my sight refused to shut down.

I ripped the knife out of my arm. A knick in the blade had caught on my bone. The knife cut still deeper as I pulled it free. I shouted a line of obscenities that would make most sailors blush. Blood poored down my arm. I held my metal hand to the wound and said, "Ignitus!" through my clentch teeth. With a sizzling sound, and pleasant rush of endorphins the cut burned shut. I watched as the burn almost instantly began to heal.

I turned to look at Francis. She looked very similar to Lara. She was a spider pulling on threads. The only difference was that many of the threads were also pulling her. She was not a weaver of the great web like Lara. She was just another unfortunate soul stuck in it. I saw two other bits that made me pause. The first was a red thread connecting Francis to me. This was not expected, but it did make sense. Francis was my first. While it wasn't necessarily a memory I treasured, it was still one that would stick with me. The second image was the nexus of energy. Fancis wasn't a powerful member of the White Court. That said she had more tantric energy stored in her than any ten sex vampires I have ever seen. The energy was wrapped in a protective barrier. While the energy was inside Francis, it was separate from her. The comparision to infant and mother was there, but flawed. Host and parasite didn't fit either. The closest way to describe it was contents and vessel.

I walked over to Francis and keeled next to her, "I'm guess you weren't going to tell me about the about the sixty-nine lives worth the juice you have stuffed inside of you."

"You know me," Francis said meekly. "I was always pretty adventurous when it came to things being put inside of me. I would really appreciate it if you would stop the bleeding." Francis's right arm was covered in deep cuts from the shrapnel of the gun. Her stomach chest and face were in similar shape.

I placed my left hand on her shoulder. Francis's skin bubble and burned. This true love thing has some advantages. Francis screamed as I moved my hand over the cuts. I moved slowly methodically. "Here's the thing Francis," I said over her cries of pain. I put my right hand over her mouth to muffle her shouting. "You were my first, and that does mean that there is a certain connection between us. I am also well aware that you hardly tried to bind me. You could have, and I would have been your thrall just like that. I truly to appreciate the restraint and kindness you showed me."

I reached deeper into the hole in her stomach and dislodged a chunk of metal. I repeated my process on her arms and torso. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she was cracking teeth on my gauntlet. "That being said, it is damn easy to burn away my good will. You tried to kill me. I don't care if it was a halfhearted effort or not. Right now the way things stand, I am going to take you with me, hide you deep in the nevernever, wait until the clock runs out, and destroy you just to throw a wrench in the White Court's plans. So when I say you had better tell me the truth. I want you to understand the consequences. It isn't a matter of whether you live or die. It is how you die that is up for grabs."

"Please Id," Francis gasped between ragged breaths. "Stop! Please, just kill me!"

"Shush," I said soothingly. "We still have four hours and thirty-five minutes."

"Id, I never really asked anything of you, but you need to stop," Emma said.

I turned to look at her. I have never seen that look on her face. It wasn't the panicked look of fear from when we ran from the bone golem, nor was it the look of distaste when she tried to eat what I call food. It wasn't even the look of surprise from when I pulled out my dick. It was strange. It was like she was seeing me for the first time, ever. It was part uncertainty, part inquisitive interest, part determination, and part understanding.

I heard the distant wail of sirens. Between the gunfire, the flames, and the explosion some busybody of a neighbor must have called the cops. It's a shame nobody respects each other's privacy these days.

I grabbed Francis and threw her over my right shoulder. "Let's get back to Kendall's place. I think I have a focus that can find the white court's energy collections. The bundle of energy was strange. It was held with some other sort of power. It would take a ritual all its own to break it down and do anything with all of that power.

"You have a bit of dark side," Emma said.

"Trust me when I say, I'm almost all dark side," I said. "You are just really slow on the uptake."

"Id," Francis said weakly, "you have to stop it. If you don't he will be worse than he ever was."

"who?" I asked. "We were in Australia. I made it a point to be round-about in my travels.

"Vector!" shouted the assassin.

Having my sight stuck on did have one advantage I knew the exact amount of force need to stop the spell. "Ignitus," I hissed. The spell stopped cold and did nothing.

"For the last time you do not have the advantage here," I called. " You lost the element of surprise. I have your focus item, and quite frankly I have way more mojo than you. How about you scamper off and just leave me alone."

She sort of just popped out the ground. I saw her true name, and with the name came some realizations. Under the unfailing gaze of my sight. She was angel with a broken halo and the faintest hint of devils horns. She was a good person, but she had done something terrible. I had a guess what it was too. Around her were waves of energy that couldn't and should not exist. She had broken one of the laws of magic. She had bent the fabric of time.

A second flash of insight triggered an old memory. Red lines, the knife had cut all of us, but the fighting only took one from this world. Bags of blood were suspended above her, and the steady beeping of the EKG machine marked the beating of her heart. Words like lucky, and miracle were thrown around. Two hundred and seventy-eight black stiches on my right arm, and twenty more on my right hand. A man in blue asked me questions. They held me. They thanked God that we were safe.

My eyes, nose and mouth started bleeding. Remembering had physically hurt me. The rattling was now the loudest of dins. My body heaved. My throat pulled tight. My lungs burned. A fist collided with my face. A second fist struck me again, and again, and again, and again.

"Stop laughing at me," the assassin screamed.

"You'll fail," I choked between laughs. "The spell you cast to get here is cursed. You are outside of time until you complete your goal, but you'll never be able to complete your goal." She hit me again the pain brought clarity. "You can never kill me, nor by your action or lack of cause me to die" I couldn't stop laughing. It wasn't funny, but my body refused to stop convulsing. Had my brain finally broken? The sight is meant to be used in short burst. Too much of it is maddening. Probably why they call it too much.

I straighten my fingers of my right hand and jabbed them into her throat. She fell to the ground and curled into the fetal position.

I felt something inside of me break. It could not be explained, described or quantified. It didn't hurt. It didn't bring peace. I wasn't the same, but I wasn't changed. I was like I was to be I supposed. I was broken. I stopped laughing.

I turned to Emma, "Thanks for the help. What do I pay you for..."

Three pale skinned beautiful women faced me. one had Emma in the sleeper hold. Emma face was red and her eyes were rolling up in her head. The center woman pointed her gun at me, "Hand over the vessel, and…"

"You'll kill her?" I finished for her. "Not buying it. Let her go first or choke the life out of her. Either way you grabbed the worst bargaining chip in history. Now if you were willing to trade Frankie her for lewd favors I may be able to come to an understanding with you." that was the moment I realized my sight had closed. All for the better really.

"That can be arranged," the woman said.

"White court then," I said. My face twisted into a sneer. I let the bo staff fragment slide into my hand "Convectus!" I roared. A blade of heat cut the top off the woman strangling Emma. it curved around and cleaved the head off the woman on the right. Just before it fade it took the woman in the center's hands off.

I froze. That was drastically more effective than any spell I had ever cast before. I didn't have anywhere near the focus to accomplish anything like that. My magic has always been about displays of power with a borderline insane lack of control. This was a spell that had been focused beyond the point of anything I have ever seen before.

I decided to roll with it. "Here is the deal," I said put a boot to her head, "You go back to your boss, and tell them that if they want this bundle of power they can hire me through the summer court. For the record it is going to be expensive as all hell. The fae never deal in cash."

I pulled Emma to her feet, "You going to make it?" I asked.

"I really need to learn how to fight," she said. Her voice was horse and weak, but she stood on her own she grabbed the assassin, "We taking this with us too?"

"Oh yeah," I said. I tore a hole to the nevernever, and we went back to my house. It was strange. We didn't run into anybody. The nevernever is vast, but it is not empty. Normally someone or something wants to chat, or eat me, or chat will eating.

"You know you are seriously fucked in the head, right?" Emma asked. "You remind me of a guy I ran with for a while. Most of the time he was fine, but every now and then he would snap."

"What happened to him?" I asked.

"He knifed a guy in Louisville and was gunned down by the cops," She said.

"If that happens to me, I am going to take so many cops with me," I said.

"That is kind of what I'm getting at numb nuts," Emma said. "You are hurtling to a confrontation with the White Court for no reason. Wouldn't it just be better to hand off this succubus bitch, cash in, and bow out of this cluster fuck? There is no way you are loyal to the White Council, so why are you risking dying for their bullshit."

"She fought for me," I said as the memory came back.

"What?" Emma said.

"Long ago, something bad happened to me," I said. "Someone fought to protect me. I think, if I stay on this path, I will remember."

"Id, that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard," Emma said. "The past is dead, and the future is a lie. All anyone has is this moment right now."

"If that is true," I said wondering aloud, "Then what are you doing hanging out with me?"

"Believe it or not, but you are one of the nicer people I've been with," she said.

"Wow, that is the saddest thing I've ever heard," I said.

"Ain't it though," Emma said.

"Well to be fair, you are the closest thing to a friend I have ever had," I said. "If it comes down to it, I wouldn't screw you over."

"Same here douchebag," Emma said.

We were on the path to my house. The lights were on, and a carriage was in front.

"You people have more issues than Time Magazine and National Geographic," Francis said.

"And we have company," I said. I opened the front door. The visitors were in the kitchen. I dropped Francis on the couch. "Watch them," I told Emma. "If something happens to me, run."

I was on strange terms with the Summer Court. Some of them wanted to fuck me. Some of them want to exploit me. some of them wanted to eat me. A few wanted to fuck me, while eating me in an exploitative manner. Some, like the Gruffs, just wanted to coexist. The last group just wanted me dead.

"Listen, I'm busy so if we could…" I stopped.

Titania sat at my table. It would take thousands of words to describe her. Most of them come up short, and ring hollow compared to her. The quickest way to describe her is that she is beautiful beyond words, and as powerful as she is beautiful. He long red hair is braided with flowers and her eyes have the cat like focus and intensity. Her face is lovely and usually makes most people feel at ease around her. This is a mistake, but it happens. Her skin is bronzed and flawless. Her smile can and has lit up a room. She also has rocking tits and an ass that refuses to quit.

She was wearing a flowing green dress that fit the perfect contours of her body. In her hand she held a tea cup, and on the table was a bountiful meal. She looked at me with a cool gaze. She frowned slightly, "Could I what, Id?" her voice was pleasant and could be seductive, but right now it was serious and almost cold. That was her usual tone for dealing with me.

"My queen," I said and bowed.

"I am not your queen, and we both know it," She said. "Sit down. We have so very much to talk about."

I sat down, "Is there any reason the White King would want you dead?"

"He is mad because I'm sexier than he is," I said quickly.

"I meant a reason that might actual be true, Id," she said. "he is far more attractive than you, better endowed as well." She thought for a moment. "He is more of a Duan Juan and you are more of a tramp."

"transient or…" I started.

"Whore," she finished. She took a victorious sip of tea. "If you are going to play word games with me, you need to be more loquacious, and adroit."

"But if by some stroke of providence that I best you in social combat, you'll just kick me around in regular combat," I said.

"That is no excuse to be Irksome," she said. "I ask again. Why, would the White King want you dead?" she poured me a cup of tea, "Have some. It's Earl Grey."

I took the cup, "I have taken a component for a ritual from him. It is the life force and tantric energy of sixty-nine people."

"that is certainly worth killing over,"Titania said. "But he offered far more than what that is worth to have it returned, and radically more than that to have you be the one to return it."

I considered lying to her for all of a nanosecond. It would be about the same as if I was a three year old covered in finger-paint in front of a wall with a few hand prints on it. She would see through it, and I would just be wasting time and good will.

"from what I gather he has done this ritual sixty-eight more times over the years." I explained. "it looks like he is going to use all of them for one big move."

"the energy is stored in the White Court vampire you have?" Titania asked.

"Yep."

"That is old magic," she said pensively. "With that kind of power stored in white court vampires someone could absorb all of that power and the demons to become a sex god. They could dominate and feed from thousands at a time. Their power and followers would quickly become enough to conquer the other courts. Mankind would become their food alone."

"So I take it you do not want me to hand over Francis," I said.

"On the contrary," Titania said with a truly mischievous smile. "I want you to hand her over personally. Then, I would very much like you to wreck their shit."

"I love it when you use course words," I said.

She seized me with a hand that could only be compared to something unyielding and metallic. She pulled me close and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "Eat the food, find you girlfriend and have her heal you up, and then hand over the succubus."

She stood up and walked away. That was that.

My cheek practically burned the heat covered my body and made my aches and pains fade. She was the queen of the summer fae. Her power was so vast that I couldn't find words to describe it, and all I could think at that moment was that she smelled really nice.

Titania exchanged some pleasantries with Emma, and let herself out.

Emma dragged the assassin and Francis into the kitchen. Both had recently regain consciousness, and both were wrapped in vines. The assassin glared at me. If looks could kill, and with wizards that is distinctly possible. I chuckled again.

"So you really pulled yourself out of time?" I said.

"Yes," she said. Her glare grew icy.

"Is this food safe to eat?" Emma asked.

"Yep," I said. I turned back to the assassin, "What is it like to be truly immortal?"

"It hurts," she said, "just like being alive."

"Id, as much fun as it is to watch you be a dick to the prisoners, but what is the plan?" Emma asked.

I grabbed a pepper and ate it. "I'm going to eat this food. Then, I'm gonna go have dirty, raucous sex with Lita. You're welcome to join in on that. Then, I'm going to do what I have to do to make the White Court, the White Council, and anyone else connected to this regret involving me in this. So you in on this?"

"I'll pass on the sex," Emma said. "Even if what Lita says about your tongue is true, those peppers are going to make things burn. Besides I never put out for angry, alcoholic, burnt guys with more mental problems than me."

"Too bad," I said.

"Yeah, if only you didn't eat such volatile food," Emma said.

I thought for a moment, and then I ate another pepper.

* * *

><p>That was Chapter five I hoped you enjoyed it. thanks for reading this far.<p>

Please Review.


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